The Forgotten
by Bandman2000
Summary: Naruto is banished. Thrown from his home. How will he handle this and what will happen in his uncertain future? Better summary inside.
1. Chapter 1

_**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ANY CHARACTERS THAT MAY POP UP IN THIS UNIVERSE.**_

**Naruto wakes up after a successful Uchiha retrieval mission. Banishment soon follows and a young, broken Naruto wanders the land before he meets a young man only slightly older than himself. With a new friend, Naruto changes his dream. What does Naruto plan to do now? How will he change the Shinobi world? (Naruhina, other pairings to follow) **

-Konoha, one week post Uchiha Retrieval Mission-

Naruto was sitting on the foot of his bed, his Apartment bare. All of his important belongings were in a backpack that sat on the floor next to him. He was staring at the wall, dazed still. One word kept running through his head.

BANISHED

That's what the Council and Danzo had told him. They had come to his hospital room the day before and told him that due to the violent nature with which he handled Sasukes retrieval that the council now considered him more of a risk than an asset. He had been given 24 hours to leave.

"But….But….I….saved him…." muttered Naruto out lout to no one in particular, still feeling shell shocked.

True he had beaten Sasuke badly, but he had to. If he hadn't then he would have escaped and be with Orochimaru now. Naruto had brought Sasuke back alive, and this is what he gets. Banishment.

Standing from his bed finally, Naruto grabbed his backpack and made to leave. He knew that his friends would wish him goodbye at the gate, so he had no reason to stay any longer.

As Naruto left, the village seemed alive in celebration. "THE KYUUBI IS GONE!" was the most rampant cry of the day. Naruto could feel the happiness that his banishment had brought to most of the village. It was everywhere. On all the faces and in all the actions of the villagers. About a block away from his apartment Naruto heard the sound of breaking glass and splintering wood.

'that took no time' he thought to himself as he continued to the gate.

His apartment was gone. There was no way the village would let it stand, he was just taken aback by how swiftly the villagers dealt with it. Such a place that had been a home to a 'demon' could never stand in Konoha in the villagers mind.

'Good thing i got all that matters here though…' Naruto whispered to himself, feeling the weight of all of his life in his backpack. The idea that his life and possessions could fit into one backpack was proof of how minimal Naruto had learned to live. Few pictures, clothes, and ninja gear were all that Mattered to him now.

'Perfect for a life on the go….maybe I won't settle down after I leave…' Naruto started to weigh his options and plan out his future.

This thoughts didn't last long however as he soon reached the gates of Konoha. His last stop before he left for good, to never return.

Naruto cast a look around, hoping to see his friends, any of the sensei, Baa-chan…anyone. but no. There was no one standing at the gate for him.

Naruto looked at the ground, finally letting go of hope. He was alone now. As soon as he left this gate. He would truly be alone. No one was here to say goodbye. His heart broke.

Tears fell from Naruto's eyes, but were quickly hidden by the rain that had started to fall.

'how….fitting…' Naruto thought as he slowly walked out of the gate, out of Konoha and into the world. His dreams and heart broken, Naruto Uzumaki was truly lost and didn't want to be found.

-Konoha, council chamber, same time-

Danzo was currently sitting in the council room, smirking to himself.

He had finally won. He had managed to separate the fox from Tsunade and the others. Now all he had to do was wait a few days and dispatch his root to collect the boy. What a fine weapon he would make.

Currently he was dealing with the fallout of his plan though. Tsunade and surprisingly a few of the clan heads were speaking out against his autonomy. They were claiming that he was a power hungry monster who over stepped his boundaries. This he expected from The Hokage, but the clans he was a little surprised by. Apparently the boy had won a few over. no matter, he still won.

"THE FUCK GIVES YOU THE DAMN RIGHT!" Tsunade screamed, standing in front of the council, radiating hatred and anger. She was livid. As to be expected.

"Lady Tsunade" Danzo began "The civilian council as well as the elders and I have all concluded that the Kyubi container was no longer stable. After the way he injured the last Uchiha, we had to take measures to prevent such an incident repeating itself" Danzo replied calmly.

True, he had had the civilian council and elders approval, and that was the only reason he was able to banish Naruto in the first place, but now he had to hold up to the Hokage.

"Injured? HE SHOULD HAVE KILLED THE BRAT WHEN HE HAD THE CHANCE" Tsunade bellowed, almost shaking the room. "That little fucker was leaving, abandoning his village. Yet here you all sit, defending him" She finished.

"Sasuke was simply under the influence of the curse mark" Danzo replied "Which has been sealed, but needs to be removed completely. We hope that Jiraiya will remove the seal." Danzo stated, more than asked.

"Well, he might have been willing to" Tsunade stated "But then again, that was before you banished his apprentice" She finished crossing her arms.

"His former apprentice is of no consequence in the matter, this is a matter of Konoha's safety. If we lose the Sharingan to Orochimaru or anyone else for that matter, think of how weak we could become" Danzo replied, eliciting several nods and forced agreements from those present.

"Like I care" Tsunade shot back "Naruto would have, and still will, surpass that Uchiha brat. No doubt. The only thing you did was ensure that he now hates Konoha." Tsunade finished, turning to leave. "Look, as much fun as it is to argue with you Danzo, I need to find Naruto and give him a proper send off."

"Oh, Lady Hokage" Danzo smirked "That is quite impossible"

"What! WHY THE HELL IS IT IMPOSSIBLE" Tsunade screamed at the crippled man.

"Simple" Danzo's smirk now become a full smile "How could a Kage or any other ninja for that matter, associate with a banished shinobi without coming under suspicion of treason?" Danzo started, clearly implying what would happen to any who tried to find or talk to Naruto "And also, because he is already gone"

Tsunade's world shattered, her wrath left her replaced with misery and sadness.

"What…did you say?" Tsunade barely whispered out

"Lady Hokage, I had Anbu escort the Kyubi from the village earlier this afternoon. I could not let him linger here. He may have lost control and let the beast free." Danzo stated "He had to leave for our safety"

Tsunade stood glued to the spot, unable to move. Naruto was gone, she had been tricked, and Danzo had won. Her world was falling apart around her. Her Surrogate brother was out in the world, alone. Tsunade had to fix this, but how…

-Border between the Land of Fire and Land of Waves, Midnight-

It had rained all day and had not let up at all.

Naruto was sitting in a cave he had set up camp in. He was curled up in a sleeping bad, looking out at the rain. the remains of a fire slowly burning itself out. He was debating what to do.

He was banished. No village, and clearly no friends. No one had come to see him off. Why? weren't they his friends? That is what hurt him the most now. He knew the village hated him, but did his friends really hate him too? were they all pretending to like him?

Naruto had considered going to Suna and trying to get a spot in their ninja ranks to be around Garra and his family, but decided against it. He couldn't bring himself to trust a village so soon. No home was safer that a home that would kick him to the curb any chance they got. Besides, who knew if Gaara was really his friend either…

As Naruto stared into the storm from his cave he contemplated.

"Maybe I could….um…..well…..fuck…. what do I do?" Naruto thought out loud to himself.

'ask and you shall receive little one' a deep voice boomed inside Naruto's head, before he felt himself being pulled deep into his own mind.

Naruto soon found himself standing in front of a familiar and very large cage. He sighed as he looked at its inhabitant. The Kyubi. The beast was currently laying down almost asleep with both eyes closed as if it didn't care Naruto was there.

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked bluntly. He was not in the mood to deal with the fox right now.

"I simply thought I could offer some advice" the fox said, unmoving from its relaxed position.

"Oh ya?" Naruto replied, "well what advice could you offer me? I have no home, no friends, and no family. What could you possibly tell me that could help." he finished.

The Kyubi lazily opened one of his massive eyes half way and focused on Naruto. He huffed and began.

"Look kit, you have been banished. Your friends have left you. I am all you have right now." The Kyubi stopped for a minute to let that sink in for Naruto. "You will probably be hunted, you will be hated, and forgotten by many. But look forward. You now can train yourself and become stronger than ever before. You have no…"

"But, how!? I have no sensei or training scrolls, or…" Naruto cut in before the Kyubi sighed heavily, making Naruto stop.

"As I was saying, You have no one to hold you back. As for training…..I will help you." The Kyubi finished.

"But…why? how?" was all Naruto could manage to say, a little surprised at the offer.

"I am centuries old kit, I know a few things. And as for the how, I can simply train you and instruct you on the theory of justus and techniques in you mind here. When you leave and practice in the real world, I can observe you through your eyes and help you by advising you. As for the why. Well, there is a long story for another time, just say that we both now have an enemy in Konoha and I want to live long enough to be free. Remember if you die, so do I." The giant fox demon finished.

Naruto was stunned. He couldn't believe his ears. The Kyubi….was willing to teach him, train him into a strong ninja.

"….please tell me you're serious…." Naruto whispered, almost inaudibly, but to the Kyubi's hearing it was easy to perceive.

"Yes, I am serious Naruto." the Kyubi responded without hesitation.

Naruto's world shifted once more and he found himself back in his cave, his fire dying slowly and the rain letting up outside. Naruto stood up and walked to the cave entrance and looked out at the world

"Take a good look kit" the Kyubi spoke "This world, once we finish with it, will never be the same."

A smile spread on Naruto's face for the first time since his banishment. Things were starting to look up for him.

"Hey Kyubi?" Naruto started. "mind if we stop in the land of waves? There are some people I want to pay my respects too."

"Sure thing kit, but please no more Kyubi. That is my title that humans gave me. My father named me Kurama" The fox responded.

"Alright then Kurama" Naruto said, gathering his things and leaving the cave "lets go change the world."

And with that, Naruto Uzumaki stepped out of his cave, and onto his first of many journeys.

-Land of Waves, Great Naruto bridge same time-

The mighty Great Naruto Bridge stood proud as a display for any who wanted to enter wave. Thanks to the bridge, Wave had experienced an unparalleled growth in economic activity. It was now a busy port city with much to offer, from food and drink, to supplies of all varieties. Despite this growth however, there was still one glaring weakness that kept causing troubles for wave. They had no standardized, organized military force.

There were of course militia who were called when needed for major threats, but nothing that really stood as Wave's own response to missing nin, or some of the stronger bandits that were slowly deciding to make their home around a now prosperous town. The prospect of trade caravans into and out of Wave was too much for these thugs to ignore.

In response to this, wave had recently put out a call to any strong warriors, ninja or not, who needed a home. Wave offered them sanctuary and a life, if they would fight and train others to fight.

This is what brought the stranger who was now walking across the Great Naruto Bridge here in the first place. He was around average height for his age, which admittedly was not much older than fresh genin from larger villages. He stood at about 5"6 and was wearing a large, brown leather trench coat that almost hit the ground. He had on a pair of black pants and black ninja sandals. Underneath his coat, was a dark red t-shirt that clung closely to his rather muscled body. He had no hat on and let his short red hair blow slightly in the breeze that stirred the morning air. His right eye was an bright electric green, while his other was covered with an eye patch that was kept in place by a string that tied behind his head. His pale skin had no visible scars displayed, not even around his eye. On his forehead was a headband proudly on display that showed a single swirl. He had no bag with him, no personal items that anyone could see.

As he crossed the bridge, the traveler let out a tired sigh.

'So this is it eh?' he though to himself as he crossed the bridge. 'I'll go see whoever it is that wanted people to fight then settle in somewhere. Maybe sightsee a little. I think i heard this is where the infamous Demon of the Mist is buried'

Finishing his thoughts, the traveler made his way into town. Not knowing that soon, things were going to be shaking up drastically in the small nation.

**Hi all! Thank you all for reading my story. This is an idea that was bouncing around in my head and I had to get down. Please please please give me some feedback. I love hearing what everyone has to say. I haven't been writing long and would love some tips and other things. This chapter was mostly set up, next chapter expect to see the fallout in Konoha, as well as Naruto and my OC meeting for the first time. We will learn more about his past and why he has a spiral forehead protector. Hope you guys enjoy!**


	2. Chapter 2

_**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ANY CHARACTERS THAT MAY POP UP IN THIS UNIVERSE.**_

-Konoha, Day after Banishment of Naruto, noon-

The parties had not stopped all afternoon the day before and continued all night. A few scattered gatherings were still winding down.

While the majority of the populace was celebrating or had already partied themselves into a stupor, a small group was gathered together, milling about at Naruto's favorite place in all of Konoha. The head of the Fourth Hokage.

Gathered there were Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai, Guy, Lee, Neji, Tenten, Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, Shino, and Hinata. The group had been in rather low spirits. Most of them had lost a friend, while Kakashi and Hinata lost something more. Kakashi lost his only connection to his sensei and Hinata had lost the one person she loved more than anything in life.

They had all been called here by Tsunade last night, and they had all hoped they knew why. They were hoping that they were going to go get Naruto back. That they were going to fight this and get the friend who had changed their lives back.

After a few moments of silence, everyone heard two sets of footsteps approaching.

Turning, the group could see a haggard looking Tsunade being supported and helped along by a rather angry looking Jiraiya.

The sight of the two legendary ninja did nothing to comfort the gathering. Fear started to take hold of many of the group. Why did Jiraiya look angry? What could bring the mighty Tsunade to her current state? The first to speak was Kakashi.

"What happened?" was all the cyclops asked, none of his usual cool and collected attitude present. He had been hit hard by the banishment and wasn't in the mood to deal with set backs to getting his student back in the village.

Jiraiya replied "Well. I came back to find my apprentice banished and a council that was demanding me to train that Uchiha brat, So i naturally turned them down. They were none to happy about that of course but what happened next really got to me. Danzo and the elders apparently have been planning this for some time. When I refused they had already had a law drawn up that they passed on the spot. Anyone who associates with Naruto or tries to bring him back is going to be sentenced to either banishment or death. They knew how we would respond and were ready. As of now, there is nothing we can do for Naruto" Jiraiya finished.

This caused an outburst from everyone. There were cries of anger, confusion, and even a few calls to abandon the village itself. After a few seconds of chaos, Tsunade spoke for the first time.

"ENOUGH!" she shouted over everyone causing silence to fall "look, this is shit. It know it, you all know it, and there is nothing we can do for now. But lets not go off the deep end here. Abandoning the village would only hurt our home and think of what Naruto would want. If I know he baka like I know I do then he would want us to stay. But that doesn't mean we give up" Tsunade stated.

"What happened to you Ma'am?" asked Choji after Tsunade had finished. Jiraiya's explanation of what happened did little to explain her current state.

Before Tusnade could answer Jiraiya cut in, "She just has a legendary hangover right now" he replied.

Everyone knew of Tsunade's love for sake, so after losing her surrogate little brother everyone could understand wanting to forget, and numb the pain.

Kakashi was the next to speak

"….I'm done teaching. I want back into the ANBU." was all he said, in a matter of fact tone that left little for discussion.

"Kakashi, you know that the council will never agree to that. You're the only person with a sharingan that can teach Sasuke. They will make you teach him." Jiraiya replied quickly.

"So? It's either I go back to ANBU or I resign from the shinobi forces. I can't face him. Sasuke right now stands for everything on this planet that I hate. How can I possibly be expected to sit and teach him? And Sakura is just as bad. There is nothing for me to teach them." Kakashi finished.

Tsunade let out a sigh "fine. I'll give the head of ANBU your file and have you reinstated as a captain immediately." she finished.

"WHAT! Hime you can't be serious!? the council.." Jiraiya began but was cut off by Tsunade.

"Can go fuck themselves for all I care. We can find some other situation for Sasuke. I am not forcing the legendary Copy Cat Kakashi to babysit someone whom he cares nothing for anymore." Tsunade finished.

"Thank you Lady Hokage" was all Kakashi said before he disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

"What happens to team 7 now?" asked Asuma

"Like I care" the Hokage replied "All I know is that I don't want to feel right now. I'm sick of the pain, Jiraiya help me back to my office. I have enough sake stashed there to help me forget this whole thing for a while" she finished.

With a shake of his head and a nod to the others, Jiraiya did as he was asked and soon the two legendary ninja were gone as well.

The group slowly started to dissipate after that. Most retiring to their homes, to think of ways they could secretly look for Naruto or bring him back. All except Hinata that is.

Hinata sat on top of the Monument for a few more hours. This was Naruto's favorite place in the village, so it made her feel closer to Naruto to sit there for a while. As she sat, she cried. She would never get the chance to tell Naruto how she felt now. She had not had the courage to tell him while he was in the village, and how she never could. She needed to be stronger. There sitting in that spot, Hinata Hyuga made a promise to never stop training until she was as strong as Naruto, no as anyone would ever be. That way, if she ever did find Naruto again, she could tell him how she felt. She could be his equal and maybe he would accept her.

-Wave, That evening, around Dinner-

Naruto had been walking for a while now and he had finally crossed the bridge that carried his name. He smiled remembering Tazuna and Inari and the others. He would have to find them soon, but first he was starving.

'Wonder what good ramen joints this place has now' Naruto thought to himself as he set about wandering the new, larger wave.

The place had changed so much since Naruto had been here last. It was now a bustling port and trading power. He was glad that the land was prospering. His mind wandered to Zabuza and Haku's graves. He would have to stop by after he ate and pay his respects.

'You know kit, You may want that sword of Zabuza's' the Kyubi spoke to Naruto 'It could be useful, and what better way to honor a fallen swordsman that to take up his blade in his name'

'Maybe you're right, but we can talk about that more later' Naruto responded as he finally found a ramen stand that looked appetizing.

After a somewhat satisfying meal, nothing could compare to Ichiraku's back home, Naruto set out to explore the larger wave and find his friend's graves. As Naruto walked the streets he was amazed at the amount of shops and businesses that had sprung up. This city was now a true economic power. Vendors pedaled such a wide variety of goods that it almost made Naruto's head spin. If you wanted something at all in life, you could find it here. From weapons to fine dining to knick-knacks. It made Naruto almost burst to know that the bridge he saved, the one he protected and helped finish did this to the town.

After about an hour of walking the city, Naruto made his way out of town towards the bridge and the place that he had laid Zabuza and Haku to rest. He truly looked at them as friends. Without them, he wouldn't be the ninja he was today.

'Ninja, that reminds me…..' Naruto thought as he took his headband off, and stopped just outside of town, almost at the graves.

They hadn't taken it from him as he left, and he was so used to it that he forgot he was wearing it. One of his most prized possessions, given to him by his his favorite teacher and father figure Iruka. Naruto couldn't bring himself to hate his friends. No, he had been mad at first, but he had cooled off now. Maybe they were just busy? Maybe someone didn't want them to see him? both seemed possible to him.

Staring at the Headband in his hand now, Naruto was conflicted. He loved his friends, but there was no way on earth that he could forgive the leaf. This was his, a reminder of the moment that his dream of being a ninja was realized. He couldn't bring himself to slice a clean cut across it like a missing nin would, but he didn't feel right wearing it anymore either. For the moment, Naruto just placed it inside his backpack, and struck out again for the graves of his friends. He could think more about what to do with his headband later.

After a few minutes of walking, Naruto came across his destination. The final resting place of the infamous Demon of the Hidden Mist and his loyal companion, the master of ice release. Naruto was surprised to see someone else there though. Naruto had expected to pay his respects in private, but in front of both graves stood a stranger. He was wearing a long brown leather trench coat and had no bags or weapons with him that Naruto could see. He had red hair and it looked like there was a headband tied around his head.

Naruto was on instant alert. Headband meant ninja, ninja could mean sent to hunt him, Naruto hadn't wanted to fight here, but if he had to to get away he would.

"Hello" the stranger spoke suddenly "I wasn't expecting to see anyone here. I didn't expect many people to want to visit and pay respects to the Demon of the Hidden Mist." He finished and turned to Naruto.

As he turned around, Naruto notices that the stranger was only slightly older than he was and had an eye patch over his left eye. The headband tied around his head held a symbol that he didn't recognize at all. A swirl pattern. It looked like what leaf flak jackets had no them.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked, on guard. 'What kind of ninja would want to visit here?' Naruto thought to himself, keeping his guard up. Ready if he had to jump into action.

The stranger put his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "Look, I don't want to fight. So if you wouldn't mind relaxing a bit I would be more than happy to talk to you. You're making me nervous." the stranger said,

Naruto didn't buy it and kept his guard up. "Why should I believe you? I don't even know your name or where you're from." Naruto replied.

"Well let me introduce myself then. You can call me Takashi. No last name. Just Takashi" The stranger said, extending a hand to shake with Naruto, with a genuine smile on his face.

Naruto hesitated for a minute before he relaxed a little and shook Takashi's hand. "Naruto Uzumaki. Nice to meet you" was Naruto's response.

"Pleased to meet you Naruto, so why are you visiting here?" Takashi asked, gesturing to the graves.

Naruto hesitated. Sure the is guy didn't seem like he was bad, but at the same time he wanted to play his cards close to his vest. He had only just met Takashi and he wasn't really in trusting mood right now.

"Well.." Naruto began "its kind of a long story" he finished,

"I got nothing but time Naruto, sit down and spin me a tale" Takashi replied, walking over to a nearby tree and sitting down, motioning for Naruto to join him.

Naruto slowly joined him. He was still conflicted. Should he tell Takashi? He might be a hunter nin or a bounty hunter. He was still worried that someone might have put a price on his head back home.

'Ex-home..' The Kyubi corrected in his head 'Why not? I can't sense any malicious intent in this guy. Naruto it might be good to make an ally or two now. You need comrades to survive' The giant fox continued.

Naruto mentally agreed with the fox and sighed. "Well, I used to be a ninja from Konoha. That in and of itself is a story for another time, but on my first mission outside of the village, we got attacked by these two." Naruto gestured to the graves "and well, long story short, We found out a lot about Zabuza and his partner. They fought us and we won. But they changed me. They made me the ninja I am today." Naruto finished, a far away look in his eye as he recalled the events on the bridge.

Takashi, who had been listening intently, nodded and spoke when Naruto was finished.

"Sometimes we learn more from our enemies than our friends. And often times we live long enough to see our friends turn into enemies and our enemies into friends." With that, Takashi stood up and offered a hand to Naruto to help him up.

"Do you have any plans now? Or did you come here to just pay your respects and move on?" Takashi asked.

"Well, I'm not sure. I know some people here, and well…They wouldn't object to me staying I hope…." Naruto replied.

"No plans to try to join another village? I would think a ninja would want a village to call his own." Takashi responded, "Or did you plan on starting your won?"

Naruto hadn't thought about that. What did he plan on doing? He sure didn't want to join another village. His banishment still to fresh for him to join another village so quickly. And starting his own sounded like a lot of work. Maybe later in his life. For now he wanted to train and become stronger. Maybe make some new fiends and allies.

"No plans for a village yet, and I won't be starting my own. No way I could hope to compete with the great villages" Naruto smiles and continued "I was thinking about maybe just wandering. Maybe someone needs a bodyguard or something…." He trailed off.

"Why not stay here? take a look at this" Takashi cut in and handed Naruto a flyer advertising Wave's desire for strong warriors to defend it. Naruto looked at the flyer for a moment before she cracked a huge smile.

"THIS IS IT!" he yelled and jumped up, pumping his fist in the air. He had his new purpose now. "I'm going to defend the Wave!"

"Glad I could help you, but I'm afraid I must leave you for now. Got to go find shelter and all in town." Takashi said as he turned to leave.

"Wait!" Naruto stopped Takashi "Why not stay with me? I was going to visit my friends and they have room, if I remember correctly. I owe you one, you did help me find a new purpose." Naruto finished.

Takashi thought it over for a minute and eventually nodded "Why not, if you're offering I might as well take you up."

"Awesome!" Naruto exclaimed again and started to lead the way to Tazuna's house. "Hey, when you said 'a ninja would want a village' you made it sound like you aren't one, but you have a headband. Where is it from anyway? I've never seen one like that before?" Naruto started to shoot questions at a quick pace at Takashi, who didn't miss a beat.

"Well, I am not an official ninja of any village, I just trained very hard in a few ninja arts, as well as a family art. This headband is an heirloom that was passed down from my grandfather to my father to me. As for where it is from? I'm not sure of that myself. My grandfather never talked about his time in the ninja corps." Takashi replied. keeping pace with the energetic blonde.

"Thats cool, so do you want to be a ninja? like join a village and stuff like that?" Naruto asked.

"Not really, I am happy just wandering. Collecting money from the odd job around towns I stay in and bounties. This is going to be my first time actually staying put for more than a few days here." Takashi replied

"If you're happy wandering, then why settle here in Wave?" Naruto questioned.

"Well….not sure. Guess I wanted to try something different for a change. See if I liked it." Takashi stated.

With that the two traveling companions arrived at their destination. Little did they know what was coming their way, or how it would change them both.

**There we go, chapter two. As usual please please read and review. Suggestions are always welcome. Next chapter is going to be more action oriented, trust me. it'll get better if you can suffer through my expositional stuff. Thanks!**


	3. Chapter 3

_**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ANY CHARACTERS THAT MAY POP UP IN THIS UNIVERSE.**_

-Two weeks later, Wave, training field: Noon-

Naruto stood panting, sweaty, and bruised. He was currently in a clearing just outside of Wave near the bridge that he had claimed as his training ground. Kurama had insisted that instead of settle in Naruto start training right away. Kurama had told him that he would start his training by teaching him a new form of Taijutsu, but that he would have to improve his physical condition first. So for the past two weeks, Naruto had been living like Lee and Guy would have. Constant hard work and exercise. This had a large impact on his appearance.

Naruto was still shorter than usual, but now he had much more muscle definition. Also, gone was the orange jumpsuit. Takashi, whom he had become very close friends with, had insisted that if they were to be seen together he would have to change it. Now Naruto wore a black pair of ninja pants, black ninja sandals, and a mesh top underneath a dark orange t-shirt with a black Tidal wave symbol on the front. On his arms and legs, there were a set of weights. Not nearly as heavy as Guy or Lee, but slowly getting there. Gone was his forehead protector as well. He could not bring himself to get rid of it, but he wouldn't wear it any longer. Instead he had on his old pair of goggles that he dug out of his pack.

Deciding to take a break from his training, he sat down and leaned up against a tree for some shade. These past few weeks had been a whirlwind and training felt like the only time he could relax and breath.

Originally when he had arrived at Tazuna's place, the family had welcomed him with open arms. They let Takashi and Naruto stay there for two days before helping them find their own apartment, not because the didn't want them around but because Naruto and Takashi insisted they couldn't keep taking advantage of their hospitality.

When Naruto had explained to everyone what had happened and why he was in Wave without a team or headband, everyone was shocked and angry at first. However when Naruto had stated that he wanted to stay in Wave and join their budding military, Tazuna and his family could not have been happier.

There had been a snag however, as the next day when Takashi and Naruto had gone to sign up for the Unified Wave Defense Force (UWDF) as it was being called, They had been turned away.

The recruiter had told them that while they needed all the help they could get, they were looking more for samurai and people like that. Ninja were strong and all, but no one really wanted to deal with gathering a bunch of missing nin together and trying to organize that into a separate branch of the United Wave Defense Force.

Naruto and Takashi had tried to argue that Ninja could be a much more powerful strike tool for Wave, but the recruiter had made it perfectly clear that they were not accepting ninja.

Naruto had taken his frustration out in his training. Training longer and harder than he was used to. He lost himself in time as the days started to blur together from all his hard work. Thats what brought him to right here and right now. Thanks to Kurama, he was able to do so without many negative repercussions.

As Naruto finally stood to resume his training, he sensed a familiar presence approaching and sighed.

Takashi stepped out into the clearing. He was wearing his usual outfit, but had in his hands a deck of cards. Naruto had learned quickly that Takashi loved to play cards. any kind of card game, from poker to go fish. Takashi loved to gamble on his cards as well. He was almost as bad as Tsunade. Which was why Naruto hated when he came to watch him train. All he did was play solitaire or try to distract Naruto by getting him to play cards with him.

"Sup man" Takashi greeted casually, walking over to a large tree and sitting in its shade "don't suppose you'd care to play a game?"

"Typical" Naruto huffed as he started to resume his physical conditioning "Look man, if you put half as much time into training as you do into playing cards, maybe you could be a great ninja like me" Naruto teased slightly

"Naruto, what have I told you over and over again? I don't sleep, never could. I train at night when I'm restless" Takashi responded.

True, while living with Takashi in their apartment, Naruto had noticed that the teen never seemed to sleep. However, he had never seen him train before so he was skeptical.

"Then prove it" Naruto challenged "I have never seen you fight and would love a sparring partner"

Takashi let out a large sigh "Don't suppose I could convince you to play poker instead?"

Naruto just stared at him, a no-nonsense look on his features.

"Fine" Takashi relented and stood "But don't cry when you lose"

Takashi stood and moved so that the two friends were at opposite ends of the clearing. Both stretched slightly and got into their respective stance.

"Before we start, Any rules?" Takashi asked.

"No jutsu, pure hand to hand. Ninja tools are ok. Think you can handle that?" Naruto replied with a smirk.

Takashi shook his head and moved his right hand to rest on his left sleeve, where a complex seal array become visible for a second as a large, metal Bo staff pooled into existence, which he grabbed with his right hand. "I can no doubt. You're the one who might be in trouble bud." Takashi replied getting into a low stance with his Bo held in his right hand sightly behind him.

Naruto slid into his own unique stance. A combination of what he learned at the academy and his own personal touch. He knew that he was a brawler right now. Kurama had told him that soon he would have his own style, but for now he had to do what he always did. Throw a punch and hope it connected.

The two remained silent for a few seconds. Standing stock still until they both launched themselves forward at the same time. Naruto drew back his fist and threw a hard right hook, which Takashi swatted away with his staff. The staff was spinning fast now and Naruto threw up his guard for the inevitable counter attack which came swift and hard. Takashi stopped spinning the staff and used it to vault over Naruto like a pole vaulter might. In mid air, at the apex of his arc Takashi struck. He swung his staff llike a bat and slammed it into Naruto with enough force to send him skidding across the field slightly. When his feet hit the ground, Takashi was already moving. He charged Naruto before he could react and started thrusting the end of his Bo at Naruto like a spear, hammering Naruto with no mercy. Strike after strike landed on another hastily managed block. Naruto's arms felt numb from taking the brunt of the attack now, but he forged forward. As Takashi stopped his attack and made to jump back to put some distance between him and Naruto, Naruto launched his own offensive.

He launched himself at Takashi, tackling him while he was not expecting it. The two grappled on the ground for a few seconds as Takashi's Bo rolled away from him. After a few seconds, the two untangled themselves and leapt away from each other. The move had worked. Naruto was now firmly holding Takashi's staff which he had grabbed during their struggle.

Panting sightly they both stood apart for a minute, sizing each other up.

"Don't..know….how….to use….that…do you?" huffed Takashi indicating his staff in between gasps. He hadn't handled a sparring partner in too long. He felt out of shape.

"No…but thats ok….I don't need to…." Huffed Naruto in return. His training was usually tough, but Takashi had really beaten up on him a bit. He needed to get his style fast. Brawling was ok with shadow clones, but without them it was risky.

"Don't count me out yet Naruto" Takashi said with a smirk as he caught his breath. Takashi reached into his pocket and pulled out his deck of cards.

"Oh now what? play me to death?" Naruto taunted. 'come one cards?' he thought to himself.

Takashi smiled and drew the top card. He held it between his index and middle finger for a second and then launched it at Naruto at a speed that took Naruto by surprise causing Naruto to drop his staff and jump back hastily. Naruto barely managed to dodge the card, and good thing too because it nicked his cheek and left a pretty deep cut.

"THE HELL MAN!" Naruto shouted at his friend. "We're sparring not trying to kill each other.

"Calm down, it won't kill you just hurt you. You did want to spar right? I never hold back" Takashi replied as he drew more cards and started to launch them at Naruto like Shuriken.

The two continued their spar like this for a few more minutes until Naruto was panting in a clearing surrounded by trees with cards sticking out of them. Takashi had his Bo again but was panting heavily. after the cards had ran out, they had another fierce hand to hand battle. which ended in the current stalemate.

"…..Draw?" Takashi offered hopefully. Too tired to really go on. He hadn't fought against another ninja in a while and he was out of shape. He was going to fix that though.

"…Sure." Naruto resigned. If he hadn't been training himself into the ground the past few days he would have had the energy to keep going, but there was only so much Kurama could do. He needed a break for a day to rest up before he kept training himself.

"Good match. But there was another reason that I came out here today other than cards and fighting" Takashi said as the two cleaned their mess after a little break to rest.

"Oh? what would that be?" Naruto replied picking a few cards up and examining them before handing them back to Takashi.

"You know how we can't join the UWDF, well what if we made our own force. A ninja only force." Takashi offered, as if Naruto hadn't already thought of that.

"Come on man, you know that was my first idea, but there is no way that anyone would let us do that here. They don't want a bunch of ninja from other villages gathering here and binging their baggage with them." Naruto replied. a little disheartened that he couldn't do that.

He had offered to do this already and brought the idea to Tazuna, but the man had said that the village was weary of missing nin and didn't want to welcome thieves and criminals from other villages. Which was why the UWDF was so selective right now.

"Why no do it on our own then" Takashi said simply. "Why do we need to be associated with a village? why not just form our own group. Like mercenaries, but with higher standards."

This stopped Naruto in his tracks. He hadn't thought of that. He was so set on protecting Wave that he hadn't thought about an independent group. And it could be more than just Wave, he could protect anyone he wanted to!

"Thats Perfect! Why didn't I think of that!" Naruto practically shouted with excitement.

"Because you're not as genius as I am" Takashi joked, putting the last of his cards in his deck and placing the deck in his coat pocket. "Well, whats the plan now man?"

"We have to set it all up I guess….and then we need members…..and a place to stay…and a whole bunch of other stuff. Come on, lets get back to the apartment and plan this out!" Naruto excitedly stated, grabbing Takashi and practically dragging him back to their place to plan out their newest idea.

-Konoha, Hokage's Office, same day: noon-

Tsunade was sitting in her office, the shades drawn over the windows to keep the sun from disturbing her. She had been having the worst possible time imaginable these past few weeks. First there was Naruto, whom she couldn't dig up any information on no matter how hard she tried. When any of the rookie 9 teams went on a mission they understood that they always had a standing secondary mission. To find or get information on Naruto. Yet no one was able to dig up anything at all so far. It was stressing Tsunade out to not know where her surrogate little brother was at or if he was even still alive.

On top of that worry, Danzo had been making increasingly obvious power plays. Pulling the rug out from under her as a leader. Soon she would be nothing more than a figure head. The sad part was the fools on the civilian council were all behind Danzo and so were a few ninja clans. That made it impossible for her to stand in his way. She would be brushed aside like she were nothing.

She had been combing through the constitution and other founding documents of Konoha and their revetments to find any way to help herself, but so far nothing. Things were looking dire for her. Soon they might just as well try to get rid of her and give the position to Danzo. She knew that was his ultimate goal, but she hoped that she had a little more time before he became so bold. That way she could at least try to defend herself.

She wasn't the only one feeling Naruto's absence. All of the genin teams that his friends were on had started to meet regularly at Ichiraku's and eat a meal together and talk about what they had heard about Naruto which was nothing usually. It made them feel better. Like they were honoring a fallen comrade.

Tsunade shook her head to get that idea out of her head. No way was Naruto dead. They just hadn't found him yet. Which was impressive. Even Jiraya's spies hadn't turned up nether hide nor hair of Naruto.

Tsunade's thoughts were disturbed by the opening of her office door and entrance of Shizune. The young woman had a stack of papers with her for Tsuande to look through and sign. As soon as the papers were on Tsunade's desk, Shizune spoke.

"Any sign from him yet?" She asked. Naruto's name was almost taboo if it didn't deal with good news.

"No….Shizune…..I'm scared." Tsunade admitted. She let her shoulders sag and rested her arms on her desk. She looked tired and beat. She hadn't been drinking lately either, which surprised everyone. She had said that when she got the news that Naruto was ok, she wanted to be clear of mind and ready to go bring him back at a moments notice.

"We all are Lady Tsunade, we all are" Shizune replied "He was all our friend and more to some. Things won't be the same without him. Thats why we'll just have to try harder to find him and bring him back"

"I don't know how much harder I can work." Tsunade said "I have already gone through all of the documents I can find and Danzo is in the right here. He has the power to make sure hat Naruto never comes back…" Tsunade trailed off.

"Then we'll have to deal with him, then bring Naruto back" Shizune stated confidently.

Tsunade smiled at Shizune. She was always able to make Tsunade feel better. "You're right. One thing at a time." The legendary Sannin said and sat up straighter, and dove into her paperwork.

She wouldn't be defeated by Danzo, she just had to work harder at beating him.

-Secret Location, Konoha, midnight-

The darkness in the room was almost compete, save for the two candles burning faintly, illuminating just three figures. two masked ninja, and an elderly man covered in bandages.

Danzo stared at the two root ninja in front of him and cleared his throat.

"The time has come. Enough time has passed. Find me the Kyuubi and bring him to me. A fine weapon he will make." Danzo commanded.

"Hai" the two ninja said in unison before vanishing.

Danzo smiled. Things were going his way.

**There we go! another chapter done. Length of these may change and vary slightly, so don't get used to one way or another. If you guys want longer updates or shorter ones let me know. As usual read and review. Also, if you can guess who I took inspiration from for Takashi you get an internet cookie. **


	4. Chapter 4

_**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ANY CHARACTERS THAT MAY POP UP IN THIS UNIVERSE.**_

-Wave, Naruto and Takashi's apartment. early morning, Next day-

Naruto woke with a start. He found himself sitting in his and Takashi's apartment at their kitchen table. A piece of paper at the center of the table and haggard looking Takashi sitting at the other side of the table sipping what he assumed to be coffee.

"Morning sleeping beauty" Takashi quipped in a gravely voice. Clearly he was feeling last night as well.

The duo had come back here after their spar and had started to brainstorm their new organization. Rules, Membership, Goals, the whole nine yards. They had stopped for dinner and picked up again after they ate, but it was slow going.

Naruto and Takashi had so many ideas to bounce off of one another that apparently Naruto had fallen asleep mid conversation.

"Morning, hey when…" Naruto began, groggily

"Did you fall asleep? somewhere around 1 in the morning. I took the liberty of drawing up what we have so far on for your ever critical eye to review." Takashi finished.

True, most of the debating last night came from Naruto wanting things to be perfect, so he had been picky. He had shot down ideas for even a slight issue he had with them. If he was going to make this work, it was going to work better than any other group had before!

Naruto, waking up more as he shook his head to clear the sleep from his brain, picked up the sheet of paper on the table and started to read.

'Rules and Regulation of _' the top read. There was a blank space for the groups name. Naruto had remembered quite the argument about the name of their group coming up last night. Takashi of course wanted to name if after some card hand he loved to play, and Naruto wanted something with foxes. Neither budged an inch.

Continuing on, Naruto read. 'Section 1, Organization. _ shall be organized into three main branches, or divisions. The first of these shall be the Assault Division. This group as the name would suggest will be responsible for the brunt of combat operations. The second of the divisions will be the Information Division, responsible for maintaining a spy network, and conveying important information to the other divisions. The last of the three divisions will be the Logistical Division. This division will be responsible for providing combat support to the Assault Division, in the forms of battle plans, situational reports, basic combat support, and other such needs.'

Naruto nodded to himself. That was all they really had right now. The night had proved less productive than he remembered.

'oh well, maybe today we can finish this' He thought to himself as he stood and stretched.

'Remember kit, train. You're almost ready for the new techniques I want to teach you' boomed Kurama's voice in his head.

'Ya ya, first a shower and food, then we train' Naruto thought back as he turned to leave but was stopped by Takashi.

"Hey man, I wasn't able to sleep last night like usual. And I had a thought. We are going to be recruiting missing-nin, outcasts, and exiles right? What about 'The Forgotten', you know for a name." Takashi asked sitting and sipping his coffee. Looking at Naruto expectantly.

The Forgotten.

Ya, Naruto liked the sound of that. Had a certain ring to it the reverberated with Naruto.

Cracking a trademark grin from ear to ear Naruto turned to Takashi "YA! I like that! The Forgotten. Perfect!" Naruto exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Great" Takashi replied and let out a sigh of relief. "Thought we would never agree on a name. Just so you know, I gotta go run an errand downtown. I'll be leaving after I finish my coffee and be back well before dinner. It won't take long." Takashi finished as he stood up, clearly ready to go.

"No problem man, I gotta clean up then do my usual training stuff. When I finish we an get dinner and then knock out the last of this" Naruto motioned towards the rules sheet on the table.

"Ok sounds good. See you later Naruto" Takashi turned and waved as he left for downtown.

Naruto sighed. He was beat but he couldn't stop. He had to keep going. For his new dream. He needed to give his all. With that Naruto showered and prepared to train herd. He knew he would need it if he wanted to lead a group as grand as what he was planning.

-Downtown Wave, Noon, Commercial District-

Takashi was used to being along. He had always been a loner. No family or friends after his father and mother passed when he was young. It was something that he was used to at this point. Naruto had changed that. He had found a friend who literally would almost never leave him alone unless it was to train.

Takashi found himself best friends with Naruto before he knew it. They knew a lot about each other. Takashi knew about his childhood and his greatest secret. The Kyuubi. He didn't care at all in the least. That might have been part of why they were such fast friends to start with. Takashi felt bad though. Naruto knew a lot about him, but not his most guarded secret.

And his secret was why he had to run his errand today. He was going to get a new eye patch.

Naruto had asked what had happened to his eye and why he needed an eye patch. Takashi had told him the truth…..well most of it.

Three years ago he had been wandering between Wind and Fire country when a group of bandits attacked him demanding his possessions. He had refused of course and fought off most of them. Their leader however was a former ninja from Sand and had managed to take Takashi's eye before he had managed to defeat the man.

What Takashi had not told Naruto was that there had been a rouge Hyuga with the group. He had not told Naruto how he had stolen the man's eye and implant it within himself. It had been a battlefield implant of a Doujustu. He of course couldn't turn the damn nothing off now, hence the eye patch. It served as an inhibitor that gave him control over turning the eye on and off. Which was a godsend as the eye drained inhuman amounts of his chakra.

The thing was that over time, the eye had mutated slightly. Now instead of seeing chakra, Takashi could see…something else.

He hadn't thought that Naruto needed to know now. He would tell him, just in his own time.

Takashi finally made his way out of the throng of people that constantly occupied the busy streets of Wave's business district. He left town and headed for one of his favorite places in the area.

Zabuza and Haku's graves.

Naruto had told him the story of the two. Takashi was impressed that Naruto was able to fight and keep up with ninja of their caliber at his age. He Also was impressed by the humanity of the Demon of the Hidden Mist.

When Takashi arrived, he sat opposite the graves. As he usually did. He pulled out his package containing his new eye patch from his coat pocket and moved his left hand to the right sleeve of his jacket. A complex seal array sprang to life and a bottle of ink and a brush popped into existence in his hand.

While Takashi would never admit it, but he was ok at Fuinjutsu. Well at least storage seals and suppressions seals. He was hopeless at anything else. He had written storage seals all over his coat, which is why no one ever saw him carrying anything.

Takashi opened his package and pulled out his new eye patch. It was a different style than his current one. His old one was black fabric and ratty looking now. The seal that he used to suppress his eye was also starting to fail, which was why he needed a new one. This new one was a frosted metal piece (frosted to prevent glare that could give him away) that would cover his eye perfectly. He smiled at its dull orange tint and knew Naruto would approve. It would also not be held in place by a string around his head, but rather an incredibly strong seal that was written into the metal of which the patch was made. It was guaranteed to remain attached for life (or as long as you wanted), and Takashi was willing to try something new.

Takashi set to work writing the now very familiar seal array on the small piece of metal. it took him a little time, as the eye patch was so small for such a complex seal. About a half an hour later, Takashi was done. He gave an approving nod as he looked over his handiwork and decided it was up to par.

Takashi reached around the back of his head an took his old eye patch off. Immediately he felt a large surge of chakra as his eye activated and started to drain his reserves. During a good day and a fight that didn't involve a lot of his jutsu, he could still only keep it active for about ten minutes tops. Takashi quickly placed his new patch in place. It immediately attached and it felt more secure than his string one did.

Once the patch was in place, he felt his eye become inactive again and he sighed. He really needed to practice with his eye and build up his reserves more so that the fighting with his eye would be a viable option. As it was now, it was reserved more for a last ditch effort scenario.

Takashi stood up, it was getting to be close to time to meet up with Naruto and get some food. He may be early, but he could always practice with his cards, or maybe hone his jutsu more. He felt like if he didn't buckle down like Naruto was now, he was soon going to be passed up by the hyperactive blonde.

-Konoha, Dinner time, Hyuga home-

Life in Konoha had taken a turn for the worse since Naruto had left. He had been the glue that held so many people together and kept things sane.

Politically, the blowback from banishing Naruto was something that Danzo had clearly not thought of. Sand was one the verge of nulling their peace treaty. Wave had already cut off trade routes, and many other villages were on the verge of the same thing.

The group of friends that Naruto had were divided as well, if only slightly. Sasuke had of course recovered now and was furious he had been beaten by Naruto. He had demanded to see he so that he could 'finish what was started' between the two. When he had been told that Naruto was banished and no longer in the village, he had been even more angry. He had felt cheated out of an opportunity to get revenge on his friend for saving him from Orochimaru.

Sakura and Ino had of course flocked to his side and were his avid supporters. Unquestioning faith sure was a funny thing. They turned on their former friend and comrade in seconds.

The rest of the rookies felt as though Naruto had been cheated. They knew Naruto as the kind, overactive and enthusiastic ninja who had saved them all at least once. If not from an enemy then, in Neji's case, from himself.

This of course caused tension between the teams. The famous Ino-Shika-Cho trio was unable to function. Shikamaru understood that he would have to work with someone that he didn't want to, but Choji was unable to see Ino like he used to. They would fight almost constantly about Naruto. It was so bad that Asuma had to have the Hokage herself talk to the two. Even then It was getting to a point where Tsunade was actually considering breaking up the infamous family combination. They just couldn't work together like they used to.

Tsunade herself was worried. She had been playing an intense game of political chess with Danzo. She felt like she had a firm hold on him for now, but doubted that would last long at all. His support after he had banished Naruto was growing exponentially. The public viewed him as a hero who had done what she could not. Banish a demon. They were all fools.

Kakashi took it probably the hardest. He was back in the ANBU. He spent all of his time either on every dangerous or suicidal mission that was available or at the monument stone. He never really talked to anyone anymore. Just a ghost floating through life. He had been ordered several times by the council to return to training Sasuke, the boy himself had even shown up to the stone demanding it. Kakashi always replied the same way. Silence. Some were starting to doubt if he could talk anymore. His former jounin sensei comrades made an effort to reach out to him, but he never tried to return the favor. Apparently he needed time to come to terms. No one wanted to rush that.

However things were not all for the worse. There was a good side to it all.

It showed the rookies who their friends really were and who they could trust. It also sparked a change in Hinata.

She spent most of her time training now. She had grown more confident with herself. Neji had even commented on it. When he did so she replied "When I find Naruto, I need to be strong enough to tell him how I feel."

Her appearance also changed. She let her hair grow out slightly and her trademark jacket was gone. Now, Hinata wore balck fitted ninja pants, and a plain lavender colored t-shirt. On her right leg were pouches for kunai, while around her back on her waist was a small pack for smoke bombs and other similar ninja tools. Her forehead protector still hung around her neck. She also carried herself with more confidence than she used to. Unafraid to look at others in the eye.

She spent long hours of the day working hard at her taijutsu. Her progress with it even earned her respect with her father, who now saw her growth as fitting of the Hyuga heir. Her confidence had also grown to the point that she would stutter very little if at all. This had impressed everyone.

Currently Hinata was practicing through dinner, which her father approved of. She was at the Hyuga training ground on their complex and was running through the same exercises to strengthen her Gentle Fist that she had been for the past three hours. She was in the middle of practice when an ANBU dropped down behind her.

"Hinata Hyuga, The Hokage requests your presence immediately" The masked figure stated before vanishing.

Hinata understood what this mean. Mission time.

A sense of excitement came over her. This could be her change. Maybe this was the mission that she would be able to find Naruto during. At last be able to tell him how she felt. She loved him and would do anything for him. Which was why when she left on missions as of late, she took along extra cloths and everything else. If she found Naruto, she wasn't coming back. If he couldn't be here, then she had no reason to stay either.

Hinata quickly took to the roofs and made it to the Hokage tower. When she arrived she was ushered into Tsunade's office, only to find Tsunade, Jiraya, and an ANBU that she deduced was Kakashi from the tell tale gravity defying silver hair.

As soon as Hinata entered the room, the other occupants turned to look at her. Tsunade had a huge smile.

"Hinata! I'm glad you made it so fast. I have a top secret S-rank mission for you and Kakashi" Tsunade started, and held up a hand to silence Hinata and Kakashi before they could interject. She lowered her voice and continued. "We found him. He's been in Wave the whole time. I want you two to find him and make sure he knows he still has friends here. We can't bring him back yet, but soon hopefully." Tsuande finished.

Neither Kakashi nor Hinata needed any further reason to go. Naruto was alive and well. He was in Wave. With only a glance between the two and a confirmation that in five minutes they would be leaving, the two disappeared to prepare and leave for their mission.

As soon as the two were gone, Jiraiya turned to Tsunade with a look of concern on his face.

"You know if I found him that Danzo must have been able to as well." He said. A look of concern on his features.

"I know. I don't know what he has planned, but I sure know it can't be good." Tsunade said, her shoulders hunching a little as she showed the stress that was wearing her down. "I can only hope right now that he doesn't make a move for Naruto or my job. I doubt I can fend him off much longer." She finished looking out her window as the sun continued to set.

-Border of Wave. Late in the evening-

The two masked ninja that Danzo were busy. At first, they had planned on searching Fire country for their target, but had changed tactics. They had received a message from Danzo a few hours ago. It was a single word.

WAVE

They had understood and now were on their way to the flourishing Wave. They didn't know anything else other than to look in Wave, but they were the best of the best. Root. They had unwavering faith and belief that they were right. They would not fail their leader.

Their target would be brought in, no matter the cost.

**There we go. Another chapter knocked out. As per usual please read and review. I am love hearing your opinions. Coming up we are going to learn even more about Takashi's eye, there may be a large fight, and of course we learn more about The Forgotten. If you guys have any suggestions please let me know. Love to hear from you.**


	5. Chapter 5

_**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ANY CHARACTERS THAT MAY POP UP IN THIS UNIVERSE.**_

-Two days later, Naruto's room. Early morning-

Naruto was sitting in his room in complete darkness. He had taken to meditating in the mornings so that he could talk with Kurama. Currently he was sitting in his minds cape with his tenant, whom he had become close friends with. Gone were the tunnel walls and cage, now the giant Bijuu was living in an open field. Once Naruto had learned that he could alter his minds cape into anything he wanted, he made sure his new friend was comfortable. He had also open his cage. Gone was the seal that locked Kurama within a cage inside of Naruto. Now he had could at least move around slightly. The two were sitting down, facing each other. A chess board between the two.

Kurama had insisted that Naruto train not only his body but mind as well. So the two had began to play games of strategy together, often with Kurama winning easily. Naruto was improving steadily, but with age and experience on his side, Kurama usually won.

"You know kit, your body is finally ready to handle what I want to teach you" Kurama began as he nudged a piece on the board into a position that won the game for him. "It'll be a hard and long process, but I think you're finally ready for it."

"Really!? That's AWESOME!" Naruto cheered happily, "So how are we going to do this then? Like are you going to show me in here or whats the deal?" Naruto asked standing up.

"Just sit till and relax, you'll see" Kurama replied, as his hand towards Naruto and tapped the center of his forehead with a single finger.

As soon as the finger made contact, Naruto felt as if someone had slammed a rasengan into his head. He jolted back as his mind swam. Images of hand strikes and kicks and other movements flashed before his eyes for a second before the pain subsided and Naruto was left clutching his head wondering what had happened.

"You now have a theoretical understanding of everything you need to know to master my gift to you. A long dead style called the Shadow Fox Fist. I fought a human many many years before I was sealed for the first time by your first Hokage." Kurama stated "It focuses on high mobility and a few devastating strikes. Not much else though. I thought it would be perfect for someone who brawls as well as you" Kurama finished with a smile.

"So does that mean I can bust out these killer moves now!?" Naruto exclaimed already combing through the images and memories in his head that Kurama had given him.

"No. Far from it actually. I said theoretical understanding. Which means you know how each strike and movement goes, but your muscles need to be trained to know them and be able to handle them. You have to teach yourself with a mental book basically." Kurama replied.

"Ok, I think I get it. So I have to teach myself then?" Naruto asked.

"Not all by yourself. I can watch you form here and give you advice and help as much as I can." Kurama replied laying down and closing his eyes. "Now I thinks its about time for you to go. You have breakfast and training with Takashi today correct?"

Naruto had almost forgotten. Takashi had wanted to spar with him today.

His roommate and newly minted best friend had wanted to spar to show him his true abilities. Takashi had asked him yesterday for an all out spar. He wanted to see how they measured up to one another. Something that Naruto had been wondering since their first spar.

"Ya, I should be going. See you later Kurama" Naruto said as he felt himself pulled back into the real world.

He stood up and stretched a little, before making his way into the living room of the small apartment that Takashi and he shared. Already up, fully dressed, and sitting on their couch with a table in front of him was his roommate; playing solitaire. Naruto looked at the clock they had on the wall to check the time.

It was 6 in the morning. Their spar was at 7.

"Couldn't sleep again?" Naruto asked as he passed Takashi and made his way to the kitchen they had that was attached to the living room.

"Not a wink. I don't know why you still ask. I think I'd tell you if I did sleep" Takashi responded, moving his cards around slightly as his game continued.

"That's not healthy Takashi, when was the last time you actually slept?" Naruto asked as he pulled out a box of cereal. Naruto had tried to eat his usual raman only diet, but Takashi had put a stop to that. Now the only time Naruto got his precious raman was if he went out to eat.

Takashi remembered exactly the day he slept last. The day before he got his new eye. He hadn't slept a full night since. His body would force him to get a few hours here and there when it was about to break down completely. On an average night however, he never really slept.

"Too long ago man. Too long ago" Takashi replied dismissively as he finished his game of solitaire and stacked up his cards. "I'll meet you at the field. Wanna get a warm up in before we go at it." He finished, standing and making his way to the door.

Naruto, mid way through a bowl of cereal, grunted with a mouthful and nodded at Takashi as he left.

Finishing his breakfast quickly and cleaning up a little after himself, Naruto threw on a fresh set of cloths, gathered all of his equipment, and dashed from his apartment.

It took Naruto almost no time to reach the usual clearing where he would train. He found Takashi already stretched and meditating.

"Took you long enough" Takashi said as he cracked a smile and opened his eye. "Want a minute? I want yo hat nothing less than your best"

Naruto broke into one of his goofy grins and he started to stretch. This was going to be a great fight.

-Great Naruto Bridge, 7 a.m., UWDF checkpoint-

All along every entrance to Wave, small checkpoints had sprung up.

The man in charge of the UWDF was a former samurai, Mikogami Tenza; Most of his soldiers just called him the Commander. He had a firm grasp on military tactics and defense and was no slouch to fight either. As soon as he had taken charge, he had trained the rag tag group of volunteers into a passable defense force.

Now at each entrance to Wave, was stationed a guard post with three samurai, and two archers. They had access to reinforcements through a simple flare system. At any given time, the bulk of the makeshift army was ready to respond to any threat in at tops three minutes.

Overall, Wave's government was very happy with the UWDF. There were those who questioned why Ninja were turned away. The response was always the same.

"Too much trouble." was all that that Mikogami would say.

Imagine the surprise of Hinata and Kakashi (who was wearing his old jounin uniform) when they arrived to the Great Naruto bridge to see three samurai dressed in dark blue battle armor along with two archers on the far side of the bridge wearing a more maneuverable set of armor. One of the samurai was wearing what looked like a small metal badge on the front of his armor with the symbol of a tidal wave on it.

As the two approached the samurai with the badge stepped forward to meet them.

"Hello, what is your business in Wave?" The warrior asked in a low gruff voice. Very to the point.

"We were just looking for a place to stay while we pass through town" Kakashi answered quickly. Not wanting anyone who didn't need to know the real reason why they came here to know.

The samurai gave them a rather hard stare before stepping aside. "Don't think about causing any trouble. Also, just a heads up. People here may not be the friendliest." The samurai stated as he indicated their leaf forehead protectors.

Since Naruto's banishment, Wave had cut ties with Konoha. They had openly denounced a village that would exile one of its most selfless ninja.

"Thanks, and don't worry about us. You won't even know we were here." Kakashi replied giving one of his eye smiles.

Hinata and Kakashi made their way past the samurai and across the bridge. The archers nodded a polite hello to them as the passed by.

They were in. Now where would Naruto be? Kakashi led the way. He knew what his first stop would be.

After a few minutes of walking, Hinata spoke up.

"Where do you think Naruto is?" She hadn't spoken much the trip because Kakashi hadn't responded to her attempts to strike up conversation.

"My guess is he would be at an old friends house." Kakashi replied.

With that, Kakashi started to lead the way towards Tazuna's house. Hoping to find his sensei's son safe and sound.

"What do we do once we find him?" Hinata asked out loud. More to herself than Kakashi.

Kakashi had been asking himself that same question. Their mission was to make sure he was safe and let him know he had friends in Leaf that cared for him and wanted him back. That just didn't seem like enough though to him.

"We can figure that out once we find him. For now lets just worry about that." Kakashi replied as the duo continued on their path towards Tazuna's.

It didn't take Hinata and Kakashi to reach Tazuna's house. As the UWDF samurai had told them back at the bridge, they really didn't have any friends in Wave anymore. It took them over a half an hour just to talk to Tazuna and his family. They wouldn't even acknowledge that they were there at first. After a long session of pleading to be heard out and explaining things as best they could however, the bridge builder and his family had opened their door and let the two in. Tazuna had explained how Naruto had arrived with a stranger a little while back, how they had stayed there only a few days before getting their own place. After that they hadn't really seen much of him. All they knew was that he had said he needed to train.

Kakashi and Hinata thanked Tazuna for telling them what they new and asked where Naruto's current apartment was.

"Downtown district" Tazuna replied "No idea where the exact address is but I wouldn't even bother checking there. Knowing him he's probably out training right now."

"Is there a training ground he likes to use?" Hinata asked, hoping things would be easy.

"Well, ya….." Tazuna trailed off and turned to Kakashi "Go to their graves. He has a clearing very close to them that he uses all the time. You'll hear him when you get close."

Kakashi nodded in understanding. "Thanks again Tazuna." He offered as he turned and started away, Hinata following quickly behind.

"Who's graves are Naruto at?" Hinata asked, curious if Naruto had had family here.

"Thats a long story, just know that they were his first real opponents and comrades. They are the reason that he is who he is today." Kakashi stated as he picked up his pace, which HInata matched. He wanted to find Naruto as soon as he could. He needed to find him.

-Naruto's training ground. 8 a.m.-

Naruto and Takashi were sitting proper up against a tree looking out over their training ground. It looked like a freaking battlefield.

There were large holes blasted in the ground and several trees were either cut down or blown entirely to splinters.

The two boys were currently talking about their fight and rating a little. both looked tired, with sweat dripping tom their brows. IT had been a great fight.

"So your jutsu, is all based on your chakra?" Naruto asked Takashi.

"Ya. Like I said before. My charka has the unique ability to change potential energy into kinetic energy. I can even use it to enhance my own movements or movements of anything I touch, like you saw" Takashi indicated the field in front of him.

"and the explosions?" Naruto asked, starting to understand a little.

"Well, when you change an objects potential energy into kinetic energy that quickly, it has some side effects" Takashi answered with a smile. "But enough about me. When are you going to learn that taijutsu you were talking about. I mean, its fun and all beating the crap out of you but I would like to have a serious challenge next time" Takashi teased.

Naruto had learned quickly that Takashi was an amazing Bo staff fighter. He was almost a master of the art. Naruto on the other hand was a brawler. Needless to say, the close combat was a little mismatched.

"Well I was planning on working on that today if you wa….." Naruto was mid sentence when he felt a familiar presence nearing from the far side of the field.

Takashi felt the presence as well and both of them looked to the tree line as someone Naruto had doubted he would ever see again came into view.

On the far side of the field Sasuke Uchiha stepped into view, a malicious smirk plastered on his features. He was wearing his black Uchiha uniform. He was flanked on either side by Naruto's old team. Sakura, who had the same look Sasuke had on and her usual uniform, and a kid Naruto didn't recognize. He looked sort of androgynous and was smiling of all things. It was fake as hell, but a smile none the less. He had on all black and, with a shirt that seemed just too short.

Naruto had, since his banishment, given up hope that his old friend could be that anymore. His friend. He had tried to kill Naruto and almost succeeded and now here he was, out of the blue, clearly not here to chat.

"Well well well dobe, looks like banishment fits you well." Sasuke spoke folding his arms in front of his body.

Naruto's look of surprise quickly turned into a glare. Behind him Takashi stood up and unsealed his Bo, ready to act if his friend needed him.

"What the hell are you doing here teme?" Naruto spat back with venom in his voice.

"Well funny story about that" Sasuke calmly replied as he started to walk slowly towards Naruto and Takashi, his team in tow.

-Flashback, two hours ago-

The root ninja that had been sent after Naruto had found him with no tousle really. They had posed as passing ninja and worked their way inside of Wave. From there it was childs play to find their target. He wasn't exactly a subtle one. They had observed his apartment until they saw their target's roommate walk out the door and dash away.

The two had then prepared to move. To storm the apartment and take their target. However the moment they were about to move, someone spoke from behind them.

"Stop."

The two turned, and saw the last Uchiha and his team standing behind them.

"Danzo has changed his plans. He wants me to deal with Naruto. You two are to return back to Konoha at once, something big is going down." Sasuke explained as he handed the two a folded piece of paper.

It containted the orders that Sasuke had just verbalized. The two nodded and disappeared in an instant.

"Now what Sasuke?" Sakura asked.

"Now we wait. When the dobe leaves then we follow him and kill him later. I don't want to start an incident. If he goes and trains later then his death can be an 'unfortunate training accident' " Sasuke explained as he concealed himself on the roof, motioning for his team to do the same.

"Great plan!" Sakura complimented as she hid herself from view. She hadn't given up on marrying Sasuke and took every chance she got to compliment him and try to impress him.

"Average at best." Sai, Naruto's replacement on the team, stated as he hid himself. "Basic ninja tactic."

Sasuke just sighed at his team. They really didn't get along well, but who was he to complain. He was receiving special training from Danzo, who knew more about the Sharingan than he had anticipated. He was also being doted on by the village. While he felt he wasn't getting the power he needed fast enough to kill Itachi, at least his life was beyond comfortable.

-End Flashback-

Naruto was in his traditional fighting stance as Sasuke finished explaining and reached the center of the clearing. He knew why Sasuke was here now and he wasn't going to let him win. Takashi was behind him, also in his traditional stance, Bo in hand and ready for a fight.

"Naruto, you may want to tell your little friend who I am. That way he can run away now before he gets himself killed." Sasuke sneered and drew a kunai.

"Takashi, remember the story about how I got banished? Well thats him. The one who almost killed me. If you want out.." Naruto started.

"Naruto, we have a goal to achieve together. No comrade gets left behind. Wasn't that what we agreed?" Takashi interrupted and smirked "Besides, this ass looks like he needs to be taken down a peg or two"

Takashi was Naruto's friend and they were in to together for better or worse. They had agreed when they started to draw up plans for The Forgotten, that no matter what comrades came above the mission. No comrade gets left behind.

Smiling back at his friend, Naruto turned and faced his former teammate and best friend.

"No teme, you're the one who may need to know who you''re up against. Takashi and I here, we are The Forgotten. And there is no way in hell that either of us is going to run. Believe it!"

"Hn" Sasuke sneered at the two who stood before him "Looks like both of you die then today. Sakura, Sai; deal with the cyclops. The dobe is mine" And with that the two groups charged at one another with the intent to kill.

**Well….I know I said there may be a fight this chapter….sorry. Next one for sure. It'll be a good one too. Also thanks for all of you who have reviewed so far. A quick side note. I know that the description of Takashi's abilities was almost superficial but trust me, you'll get it when he fights with it next chapter. As per usual read and review. thanks everyone. **


	6. Chapter 6

_**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ANY CHARACTERS THAT MAY POP UP IN THIS UNIVERSE.**_

-Wave, 8:30. Just outside of Naruto's training field-

Takashi had made sure that when Naruto and he were ready to fight that he had split up Sasuke's group. Numbers was an advantage that they had if the two groups remained together. Takashi had faith that Naruto would be able to handle Sasuke and that left the other two fools to him. Well more like other fool.

As soon as the fighting started, Takashi had moved his fight into the woods that surrounded Naruto's training field. He had moved a little distance away and turned his attention to the more pressing matter. Fighting the fools who dared challenge his and Naruto's dream.

It had taken less than a minute to deal with the pink haired girl. It was comical almost how easily she had been knocked out. Takashi had provoked her into attacking him by teasing Sasuke, whom she clearly cared for. She had charged him with a reckless and sloppy taijutsu that was too basic for her opponent. Within twelve seconds, Takashi's superior close combat prowess left the girl on the ground unconscious.

Takashi had stared for a second at the unconscious girl 'Really?…..that all?' he thought as he stared at the clearly helpless girl.

He didn't get a long moment to wonder how weak his opponents were going to be as he was forced to dodge out of the path of three lions that looked to be made of ink. The boy in front of Takashi now, with an ink brush and scroll open in front of him.

"She was nothing, now its time for your real fight" The boy said as he drew another set of lions that sprang to life and charged at Takashi.

Takashi expertly used his Bo as a pole vault and maneuvered his way over the lions and charged his opponent. The boy, seeing this, pulled out a short blade and stored his ink and scroll just in time to meet Takashi head on.

Takashi was the first to take the offensive. He led with a series of very quick jabs, which the boy either dogged or parried away. Continuing to press his attack, Takashi threw blow after blow at his target. Each successive strike growing in power because of the way Takashi used the momentum of each blocked strike to strengthen and speed up his strikes. Changing tactics, Takashi tried to sweep his opponent's leg with his own. The boy leapt back, but did not however see the staff that had been the real attack. Caught in mid jump, nothing could be done but take the blow to the chest. The attack had been too fast.

Takashi's opponent flew back from the force of the impact. and slowly stood as Takashi took a moment to catch his breath. He really shouldn't have gone all out on Naruto earlier, he was still a little tired. As his opponent stood, Takashi saw he had a smile on his face.

"You're awful happy for someone about to get their ass kicked" Takashi said as he prepared to charge again.

"Trust me, I'm not the one at a disadvantage here" came the boy's reply.

Takashi was about to question the response when he felt a presence behind him. He was able to jump back just fast enough to avoid the kunai to the back that was intended for him. Standing behind him was the pink haired girl again.

"YOU ASS! I'LL KILL YOU FOR KNOCKING ME OUT LIKE THAT!" she shrieked.

"Sakura, we need to finish playing with him so that we can join Sasuke. Who knows how he and Naruto are getting along. Oh and I'm glad to see that you tolerance for beatings is getting better" The boy spoke to the newly awoken Sakura.

"FOU YOU SAI! Sasuke can handle that pathetic loser any time, this one is probably nothing just like Naruto. He just got lucky with me is all" Sakura replied as she calmed down slightly.

Takashi was worried now. On their own, the girl was pathetic and the guy seemed only ok. Together, well, they could be troublesome. To top it off, Takashi was stuck right now in between the two of them.

As Takashi was running through scenarios of how to get the upper hand again, there was a large blast that could be heard and felt from where Naruto and Sasuke were.

'Shit. UWDF will be here in no time to see what's going on.' Takashi thought 'Please let that have been Naruto winning. I could use a hand.'

"Sakura, we need to finish this now. Before someone comes to investigate that" Sai called to Sakura.

"Fine, here we come!" Sakura shouted as she started charging Takahsi.

'fuck…..no time to hold back I guess…' Thought Takashi as he tapped his eye patch and the seal on it deactivated.

Suddenly, Takashi's world became a whole lot clearer.

-Naruto's training ground. a few minutes before-

As soon as Takashi and the others had left the clearing, the fighting began.

Naruto had charged a rasengan and charged at Sasuke who leapt away from where he was standing as Naruto slammed his attack into the ground. Sasuke threw several shrunken and charged Naruto drawing a kunai. Naruto deflected the projectiles and drew his own kunai.

The two collided, ferociously slashing and attacking one another. after a few moments, the combatants jumped away from one another to regroup before they continued.

"Why! I was fine here. Not bothering you or anyone from Leaf! WHY ARE YOU HERE!" Naruto yelled.

"Simple dobe, I need to kill you" was Sasuke's calm reply.

"BUT WHY!" Naruto screamed at his once friend, putting his kunai away and creating two clones.

"Because, I need power and killing you will only strengthen me. SO DIE!" Sasuke finished as he charged a chidori and sprinted at Naruto.

Naruto finished having his clones create a rasengan in each hand and smirked. Not this time. He had learned from his last fight at the valley of the end with Sasuke. There would be no Chidori vs Rasengan duel today.

Slamming one rasengan into the ground in front of him, Naruto created a small explosion that threw debris and dust up, forcing Sasuke to stop his attack or be caught in the blast. Not missing a beat Naruto leapt through the cloud of dust that had formed and tried to catch Sauske off guard.

Sasuke was waiting however and as soon as Nauto had leapt through the dust cloud, Sasuke fired three large fireballs at thin, forcing Naruto to dodge and move or be burned.

As soon as Naruto had come to a halt from his dodge, he hurled three kunai at Sasuke who ducked under then and charged up his chidori while running at Naruto again. What he didn't see behind him was how one of the kunai transformed into a shadow clone of Naruto, caught the other two kunai and burned them at Sasuke's back. As they were about to make contact, they also turned into clones of Naruto who tackled Sasuke from the back.

As he fell he canceled his jutsu or he would potentially hit himself. He threw the clones off with ease and they disappeared in a puff of smoke. Before Sasuke could try to locate the real Naruto, he was thrown into a tree by a rasengan to the back.

Sasuke picked himself up from the ground and glared at Naruto.

"This ends here" he stated charged Naruto, a Chirdori crackled to life on his hand.

Naruto was about to jump away and counter, when he felt two sets of hands on his feet. Looking down, he was surprised to see two clones of Sasuke holding his feet. Aparently he knew Naruto's favorite jutsu now.

Thinking fast, Naruto drew two tags from pouch.

'This is gonna suck….' was all he thought as he activated them and a large explosion consumed the area.

As the smoke cleared, Naruto was laying on the ground clothes torn and goggles cracked, but alive. Sasuke was a few feet away. Unconcious.

Naruto grunted as he stood up and sighed to himself.

'Thanks for, you know, healing me and stuff' Naruto thought to his tenant.

'Anytime kit, just don't make a habit of suicide bombing enemies' The giant fox replied. 'I can only fix so much so quickly'

'Trust me, it won't be a habit' Thought back Naruto as he started to limp off in the direction Takashi had run. He was about to leave the clearing when he felt another presence he was familiar with.

"You've got to be kidding me" Naruto muttered to himself as he turned to face another member of his past.

-With Takashi, Same time-

As Sakura charged at Takashi, he deactivated his inhibitor seal and his vision cleared. All of a sudden Takashi had 359 degree vision around himself. The thing about his eye was that his unique chakra had mutated it slightly. It no longer increased the distance of his vision. Instead of chakra paths, his eyes could see the build up and transference of kinetic energy now as well. Using this unique mutation of his eye he was able to predict, with around an 80% accuracy, an enemies movement.

So as Sakura charged, time slowed for Takashi as he observed the transfer of energy to her fist. A sloppy punch it was. All of this energy transfer looked like purple energy shifting and gliding across a person's body. Almost beautiful in his opinion.

Behind him, he noticed how Sai was building up energy in his legs and left hand. throwing from above most likely. Taking note of his surroundings, Takashi quickly sealed his Bo away and drew out a deck of cards from his packet.

"Take this!" He shouted, "Kinetic release: Kinetic Strike!"

Takashi drew the top card from the deck and channeled his chakra into it. The card started to glow purple, with a ragged looking aura around it. He then threw the card at Sakura's feet and spun around to face Sai drawing several more cards, not needing to look at Sakura to see the effect of his attack. Sakura stopped her charge as the card neared her, but it was too late. The card hit the ground in front of her and exploded in a medium sized blast. Sakura was thrown back and hit a tree. She slumped to the ground, unconscious again.

Turning his attention to Sai, Takashi fanned the five cards he held in his hand out and started to charge them with his chakra. He didn't have a lot of time left before he ran out. HIs eye was draining him too fast. The cards all lit up like the other he had thrown and Takashi smirked.

Sai was going to jump, that much was clear by the way that he was gathering energy in his feet, how high? that was the mystery. So Takashi decided to just throw a few cards and hope to get lucky.

Takashi threw his cards and called out "Kinetic Release: Dead Man's Hand!" just as Sai took off of the ground. The first card had landed exactly where Sai had been, the second few inches beneath his feet. The third and fourth made contact, with his right leg and chest respectively, and the fifth flew overhead harmlessly.

The explosion that engulfed Sai was twice the size of the one that Sakura's was, and Takashi watched as Sai was thrown hard into a tree. Sai didn't move at first, but soon fell to the ground in a heap.

There was no indication of movement from Takashi's eye.

Takashi made his way over to the boy, and checked him over. He was unconscious and bleeding very badly. Takashi turned and started to make his way back to Naruto, reactivating the inhibitor seal on his eyepatch as he went. Feeling the after effects of using his eye and the strain of his fight along side his training, Takashi stumbled slightly but caught himself. He steadied himself against a tree and sighed.

"I have really got to get used to this freaking eye" He said to himself as he started moving again and towards where he left Naruto.

-With Naruto, Same time-

Naruto was looking on with an expression of indifference as Kakashi and Hinata walked into the clearing.

There was absolute silence as Kakashi and Hinata stopped, leaving a large distance between them and Naruto. Naruto silently pulled out his last kunai and held it in front of himself.

"I don't want to fight you….please just leave…." Naruto said.

He was tired of fighting with his past. While he may have hated Sasuke now, he still couldn't bring himself to hate his sensei or a friend who had always stood by him.

Before either Naruto or Kakashi could react, Hinata ran forward. Naruto tensed for the strike he was sure was going to be delivered. Instead, Hinata tackled him in a bear hug. Naruto caught himself so he wouldn't fall over, but didn't know what to do. Before he could react, she was talking.

"We were so worried about you Naruto. We couldn't find you. Danzo tricked us. We didn't even know you were gone until it was too late." Hinata blurted out, tightening her hug around Naruto "Things are bad back home. Tsunade, Jiraiya, everyone needs you. It's not the same without you."

Naruto was stunned.

"So…you two….aren't here…to kill me?" Naruto managed as his shock started to fade.

Kakashi was the next to speak, walking closer as he did. Hinata would not let go of Naruto still.

"Of course not Naruto. Tsunade sent us. To check on you and see if you were alright. We didn't even know about this" He gestured to Sasuke's unconscious form "Until we heard the explosion and came to check it out."

Relief washed over Naruto. Hs thoughts had been confirmed. He still had friends in the Leaf and they cared for him. He had hoped that was the case, and his hope had come reality.

Naruto, without thinking, returned Hinata's embrace finally. Giving her a monster hug and spinning her around once before setting her down. Hinata let Naruto break away from her for a minute so that he could also hug Kakashi. An uncharacteristically caring gesture for him.

"You guys….thanks" was all Naruto could say as he and Kakashi separated.

"No Naruto, doth thank us yet. We still haven't come up with a way to bring you back to Leaf, don't worry thought Tsuna…." Hinata started.

"No" Naruto cut her off, earning a confused look from Kakashi and a stunned one from Hinata. "I am not going back. Ever. I found a new purpose..a new reason…I have a new dream now and it doesn't involve Konoha." Naruto finished.

There was a long silence as Hinata and Kakashi digested what Naruto had just said. During which, a rustling sound was heard behind Naruto.

Everyone turned to see a tired, and slightly battered looking Takashi enter the clearing.

The tired boy looked around at everyone gathered and made his way to stand next to Naruto.

"This is Takashi." Naruto gestured to the newcomer "He and I are friends. We also have a dream and a plan. We want to see both become a reality. I can't go back to Konoha and do that. I'm sorry, but I'm staying gone." Naruto finished.

"Naruto….." Kakashi started. Kakashi saw the look of determination on Naruto's face and knew there was no talking him down from this. "….fine. Do what you need to do, just remember you have friends that care for you in Konoha." Kakashi finished.

Naruto nodded at this thankful that his former sensei understood, or at least accepted his decision. Naruto turned his attention to HInata now, who looked like she wanted to say something very badly.

"Hinata, look. you're one of my best friends and I'm sorry that….." Naruto started before Hinata cut him off.

"Naruto Uzumaki, I-I l-love you." Hinata began stuttering only only slightly before steeling herself and continuing on. "I have loved you for a long time now and it almost killed me to lose you when you were banished. I can not do that again. I..If you won't come back, then I won't go back. I'm not leaving your side again." She finished.

Naruto didn't even know how to start to think about responding to that. Someone loved him. Actually loved him. He thought that could never happen. But now that he thought about it….it started to make sense. The stuttering, fainting, and shyness around him made more sense now. Naruto stood frozen as his mind worked a mile a minute to try to process everything.

Kakashi smiled under his mask at the scene in front of him. Hinata, standing tall and confident in front of a dazed and confused Naruto. Naruto's friend was looking on with amusement as well.

Kakashi cleared his throat and spoke, "You know Naruto. I may be your old sensei but consider this your last lesson from me. When a pretty girl confesses to you and says she wants to abandon her village for you, A response may should be offered." Kakashi finished, eye smiling at the two.

Naruto, broken from his thoughts, jumped to life in an instant. He grabbed Hinata and gave her an almost bone breaking hug. Hinata returned the embrace with just as much enthusiasm. He lifted her once more and spun her around before setting her down and leaning away a little to speak, without breaking the embrace.

"I never….ever thought that I would hear that from anyone and have it mean so much…." Naruto trailed off, then a wide grin spread across his features.

"Hinata Hyuga, Will you go out with me?" Naruto asked, blushing a little as he did.

Hinata felt her knees almost give out. She had dreamed of this moment, planned for it since Naruto's banishment, hoped for it. Now it was here. She was in his arms, had confessed her feelings to him, and he had asked her to go out with him. The once shy Hyuga heiress was on cloud nine.

"Of course Naruto." simple, yet fitting. She felt like shouting with joy and dancing, but decided against it for now.

"I hate to be the one to break up this lovely moment" Takashi spoke up, "but to be honest, we should be moving. Don't want anyone waking up before we are gone, we can just leave them for the UWDF to sort out." Takashi finished, nodding to Sasuke's form.

Naruto nodded and took HInata's hand. Eliciting a deep blush from the girl and a slight one from himself. He had to get used to the whole, affection thing. The group hastily made their way out of the clearing and towards Naruto's and Takashi's apartment.

**Another one down. I myself am not sold on this chapter. I had to really fight it out. Hope it wasn't absolute crap. Anyway please read and review. I love feedback so please lend me some. **


	7. Chapter 7

_**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ANY CHARACTERS THAT MAY POP UP IN THIS UNIVERSE.**_

- Unknown location, late evening-

The sun had set a while ago and now Naruto, Hinata, and Takashi Had reached their destination.

Earlier in the day, Hinata, Naruto, Takashi and Kakashi had left Wave. As soon as the group had arrived back at Naruto and Takashi's apartment from their morning meeting, Takashi and Naruto had set to work with the simple task of packing their things. It hadn't taken them long, as Takashi had special storage scrolls ready for just this very occasion. Someone had found Naruto, and now they needed to go, before anyone else came looking for him.

By the time the two were done cleaning out their apartment, it was around lunch time. Naruto had of course needed to eat before leaving. The group had wandered its way into the heart of downtown Wave and found a nice little ramen stand. They had ordered their food and while they ate, had told stories of what had been happening since Naruto's banishment or about themselves. Naruto and Takashi had told Hinata and Kakashi about their battle with team 7 and how Sasuke had mentioned Danzo by name. This had led to a worried look from Kakashi, who changed the subject almost immediately.

"So what is this new dream of yours Naruto?" Kakashi had asked, finishing off his food and wanting a lighter topic of discussion with his former pupil.

"Well, I want to make a group that protects those who can't protect themselves. A group of people who know what it is lie to be cast out. to be forgotten. Takashi and I already have the rules and regulations written up. We just need to find a base of operations and start recruiting.." Naruto responded.

"Sounds very noble" Kakashi replied "Do you know where you will be going now?" he asked.

It was Takashi's turn to speak now. "When I was traveling before I came to Wave, I heard rumors of a ruined village or something in the area. We could check that out and go from there."

"Good, you have a plan. Just please be careful." Kakashi replied as he stood up, placing money on the counter for their meals. "I have to go now. Tsunade will want to hear all about this. Be careful Naruto. Everyone back home will be happy to hear you're ok. Just don't go and do anything too stupid to mess that up. If any of you need anything from Konoha, remember that you do still have allies there." and with that Kakashi placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder in goodbye and vanished in an instant.

Finishing their food, the trio set out to find the ruins that Takashi had talked about. As soon as the three had left Wave, they headed towards the rumors Takashi had heard of. They took a leisurely pace and talked as they went.

"So, I take it from those pale eyes of yours that you're a Huyga?" Takashi started conversation.

"Yes, I was the heiress in fact. But there was no pleasure for me in Leaf or at home, not without Naruto at least." Hinata replied, blushing as she spoke.

Naruto and her were walking side by and holding hands. The two were still caught up in the newness of their relationship.

"What about you Takashi, where are you from? I don't think I caught your last name?" Hinata asked, looking over at the boy who stood on her other side.

"I don't have one. My family…they…well….I never really knew them. I have been on my own most my life. Trained myself and everything." Takashi replied.

"What about you're headband? Aren't you part of a village or something?" Hinata asked, curious about the symbol that seemed familiar yet new at the same time. The swirl.

"This?" Takashi pointed to the headband he wore and smiled "It was a family heirloom. Passed down from my Grandfather. I never got a chance to learn where it was from or anything like that."

"Oh, sorry. I hope I wasn't prying or anything" HInata replied again, a little of her shyness creeping back to the surface around her new comrade.

"No worries at all." Takashi replied. "You awake Naruto? You've been really quite."

True, Naruto hadn't been talking out loud, but he had been having a conversation.

'Hey Kit, I think I know where we are going.' Kyubi had spoken as soon as the trio had left Wave. 'And if we are going where I think we are, then you are in for a massive surprise.'

'What do you mean Kurama?' Naruto thought back to his tenant.

'This place that we may be going to. It used to belong to the best fuinjutsu users in all of history. The Uzumaki clan.' Kurama had replied, a hint of a smile in his voice.

'Wait…Uzumaki….like Naruto Uzumaki?' Naruto was dumbstruck.

'Of course kit, thats not exactly a common name. The place we are trying to find is most likely their old home. If you find it, it can be a better stronghold for your Forgotten than you could ever have hoped to find.'

Naruto was about to ask more questions when Takashi called out to him.

"Huh? oh ya I'm fine guys" Naruto recovered and smiled one of his huge goof smiles. "Just having a little heart to heart with the fur ball"

'Call me that again, and I will end you' Kurama growled to Naruto

"Should have guessed" Takashi replied. The two had become very causal about Kurama. talking about him freely. It helped that Takashi respected the beast, and the favor was returned in kind.

"Tell me more about our group" Hinata asked Naruto, squeezing his hand gently. "I don't know that much about it and I'd love to know more about what exactly I signed up for."

"Ok!" Naruto's eyes lit up. "So the name is the Forgotten. We take in any missing-nin or other ninja who have been thrown from their village or are looking for a new home. We work as a mercenary force who fight for those who can not fight for themselves. As such, we accept payment at the clients convenience."

At that point Takashi cut in "Well, thats ideally. To be honest a group like this takes money Naruto. We will have to get paid eventually" Takashi interjected, trying to be the voice of reason to Naruto's idealistic views.

"Ya ya ya. I know" Naruto replied, and continued on. "The Forgotten will be divided into three branches. The assault, support, and intelligence branches. Each with their own leader. The leaders of the branches act as the head of the organization with the Assault branch head being the official 'leader'. Thats all we really have for right now." Naruto finished. His enthusiasm for this group made HInata smile.

"Well, actually I wanted to talk to you about that. I have an idea." Takashi picked up where Naruto had left off. "Seeing as we are the three first members of The Forgotten. I move that we all head a branch. I vote that Naruto takes the Assault branch. Miss Hinata, you get your choice of the remaining two." Takashi stopped the group on the road they were walking along.

Currently they were in a dense forrest somewhere on the edge of Wave and Fire country.

"Sure! I accept the position, that is if HInata is ok with that?" Naruto responded to Takashi's nomination to the Assault branch head.

"Of course thats ok with me" Hinata smiled at Naruto and then turned to Takashi "If its all the same to you, I would prefer the support branch. I don't know much about intelligence gathering." Hinata admitted sheepishly. She knew the basics of course, but she was far from a spy master.

"Fine by me" Takashi smiled at Hinata and nodded.

"AWESOME!" Naruto shouted and pumped a fist into the air. "Our first real step towards The Forgotten. A core group of members. I just hope the rest is as easy as this." He finished and put his hands behind his head and smiled sheepishly.

"Even if it wasn't I doubt you'd let that stop you" Hinata said as giggled a little at Naruto.

"Nothing could stop me" Naruto said, wrapping his arms around Hinata in a brief hug. As the two parted Naruto turned to Takashi. "Ok, so now where. We've been walking a while and its dark out."

"Well..Now we're here" Takashi said, turning around and pointing to a very large tree that was about twenty feet from the road and barely visible. "If what people are saying is true, then we made it…" Takashi trailed off and made his way to the tree, with Naruto and Hinata trailing after him.

Takashi reached the tree and stared at it, examining it. It was old, very old. It was also incredibly large. Big enough in circumference to fit all three of them inside it looked like. Walking around the tree, Takashi let out a whistle and motioned for his companions to see what he found.

On the side of the tree facing away from the road, was a hole. a hole large enough for a person to fit into. Looking back at his friends, Takashi smiled. Without a word, he entered the hole. Naruto and Hinata could hear as soon as he stepped in that he fell, but there was no sound of him hitting the ground. Looking at one another, they nodded and both entered the hole as well. Falling into darkness as well. Until a bright blue light illuminated their world…..

-Konoha, Same time-

Danzo was sitting in in the root headquarters, waiting for the duo he sent to Wave to return.

There was a quick breeze as the two materialized before the bandaged man.

"Sir, we received your orders. What can we do?" The two said in unison.

Smirking Danzo spoke "I am planning on setting the stage for my taking of the position of Hokage. For this I need some very secret behind the scenes work." Pulling out a folded piece of paper and placing it on his desk, Danzo continued "This is a list of names of people whom I need to support me. Ensure their loyalty by any means necessary."

"Of course my lord" The two spoke in unison as one of them came forward and retrieved the sheet of paper.

"Also, before I forget, how was team 7 dealing with the fox? I do look forward to seeing Sasuke with the legendary Mangekyou Sharingan." Danzo asked.

The two ninja in front of him cast a look between them, the leader of the two spoke after a second.

"The fox was fairly well matched with Sasuke, but the fox's partner…..he was clearly above the other two in team 7 together." The lead ninja spoke, nervously.

"…partner? I was unaware that the fox had any friends outside of the village that could have helped him in Wave" Danzo replied, narrowing his visible eye at his underlings.

"Neither were we sir, He appeared to be a new acquaintance of the fox. He had a unique ability as well. A chakra based ability" The ninja spoke again.

"Hmmm….did you stay to see the outcome of the battle? Danzo questioned.

"No sir, we had our orders to return." replied the lead ninja again.

"….very well. Take the list and begin your work." The bandaged elder ordered his loyal warriors.

As soon as the two had disappeared, Danzo began to ponder this new information.

'If the fox had a friend who could handle both Sai and Sakura…..I wonder if Sasuke won. Things just got a little more interesting' Danzo thought to himself as a smirk appeared on his features.

-Wave, Downtown Jail, Same time-

Sasuke woke up with a start as a bucket of cold water was thrown on his face.

He sputtered and cursed as his world came into focus. The last thing he remembered was the dobe blowing himself up.

Taking a moment to observe his surroundings, he noticed he was in a room made of grey brick. He was sitting at a shiny metal table with both hands tied to a metal chair that matched the table. In front of him were two men. One wearing full samurai armor and holding an empty bucket. He was turning and leaving.

The other man was tall. He was wearing full samurai garb, minus the helmet that was traditional. His armor was also slightly different from the other armor he had seen. It was the dark blue that he had seen on all UWDF member's but also had gold trim and upon his hip, were two swords instead of one. His face was unreadable. He had bronze skin and scars that dotted his features. His dark blue eyes seemed to penetrate Sasuke as if he were looking into the young man's soul itself. His long brown hair was pulled into a ponytail that looked impressively long, and a single streak of silver could be seen running from his right temple the entire length of his hair.

Sasuke groaned and spoke first.

"Where am I? and who are you? and why am I tired up?" the boy asked as he shook the sleep from his head.

The man spoke clearly and with an authoritative, dark voice.

"You are here, because my men observed a large explosion within out border and arrived to find you and two others unconscious. We took you here because you had clearly been fighting, a contradiction to what you told my border guards. Now I am going to ask you this one time. Who are you and why are you really in my home?" The man kept his voice impassive, almost icy.

"My Name is Sasuke Uchiha of Konoha. My team and I were on our way through as we had told your guards when we came under attack from a missing-nin that had been waiting to ambush whoever had come along our route. We fought our best but were bested in the end." Sasuke lied quickly. He had known that this would end badly if they were caught.

The man standing on the other side of the table didn't even blink as he pulled a folder from behind his back and threw it onto the table. He opened the folder and pulled out several pictures of Sasuke and his team watching Naruto's apartment as well as moving around and observing Naruto and Takashi train before the attacked.

"Lets try this again. I have little patience for liars" The man spoke again. "Why are you really in my home."

Sweating as he sat in the chair, Sasuke knew he was in trouble now. How had they gotten these? this was bad. Thinking quick, Sasuke came up with what he thought was good.

"That boy was our target. My team and I had been given a mission to bring him back to our village. He was missed and banished from it wrongly. He is unstable because of a great power that was sealed inside of him that makes him dangerous. When he saw us he attacked and we had to defend ourselves." Sasuke lied, trying his best to sell the story.

The man narrowed his eyes at Sasuke and drew one of his swords. Sasuke started to sweat more now. What was this guy doing!?

The man stepped around the table and in one swift movement, cut the rope tying Sasuke to the chair. Sasuke grabbed his wrists and rubbed them where they had been bound.

"I do not believe a word you say, Sasuke Uchiha of Konoha. I have a file on BOTH of the boys that your team 'defended' themselves against. I am familiar with who they are and what they believe. The only reason you are leaving here without being charged with attacking my citizens is that I have no proof to the contrary of what you say. Pictures can only tell so much. You and your team may leave. You will be escorted out of the city, and I expect you to carry a message to your Hokage from me." The man dropped his calm facade and let a glare loose that froze Sasuke's blood. "The Leaf is no longer welcome inside of Wave's borders. Any attempt to enter will be taken as an act of war."

The man turned away from the still seated Sasuke and opened the door to the room they were in. He made to leave but Sasuke spoke before he could.

"And who shall I say this message is from?" He asked, finding his courage returning now that he could move freely once more.

The man stopped in the doorway and turned to face Sasuke.

"Mikogami Tenza, Commander of the UWDF. You will be escorted to your equipment and team. Now begone." Mikogami stated in an imperious manner before he vanished out of the door.

'Mikogami Tenza huh?' Sasuke thought to himself as he was led from the room. 'No one gets away with insulting me in such a way Mikogami. You will pay'

-Inside of the Tree, with Naruto, Same time-

"About time, you two got here" Takashi teased, as Hinata and Naruto joined him.

After he and Hinata had followed Takashi into the tree, they realized that there was a sheer vertical fall. They didn't know exactly how far they fell, but it had been far. Their fall had been broken by a pool at the bottom. They had exited the pool, soaked but in awe. They were in a medium sized chamber that looked to be around the size of the academy classroom Naruto and HInata had learned in. One of the walls of the chamber was covered in a massive glowing blue seal.

"What is it?" Hinata asked, astounded by the monster blue seal in front of them.

"Well. As far as I can tell. It's some kind of a seal….thats it. Its not storage or inhibitor…Thats really all I got for you…." Takashi responded sheepishly.

The three were standing right in front of the seal now. Naruto was the closest.

"Wait…you mean….you guys can't…." Naruto started but stopped himself, not tearing his eyes from the seal.

"We can't what?" Takashi asked, curious. He had never seen his friend transfixed by anything but ramen this much before.

"you can't read it?" Naruto asked, tearing his eyes away from the seal to stare at is friends.

"No" Takashi and Hinata replied in unison. "can you read it Naruto?" Hinata asked, looking inquisitively at her Boyfriend.

"….Ya. Read might be the wrong word. I can understand how it works. It just makes sense to me. The lines and stuff look like you should….." Naruto trailed off and bit his thumb. He then smeared a little of his blood on an odd space in the center of the seal that almost looked like a whirlpool…..

And then the world started to shake.

The seal in front of the trio began to shrink and morph until it was a sphere of light no bigger than a coin. As the seal shrank, the wall upon which it was set began to dissolve, revealing a monstrous cavern. The ball then began to grown and morph at an alarming rate until in from of the group, stood a tall man.

He was made up of the same blue light that the seal was and had long flowing hair that was not restrained and left to be free. He was wearing what looked like Kage robes, but no hat. He had a kind and gentle looking face and eyes that betrayed great sadness. Je was looking straight forward, not at any of the three in front of him.

The group was too shocked to move, let alone react. What had Naruto done?

Before anyone could move or speak, the man began to talk.

"Hello, If you are seeing this, then you are the first Uzumaki to make it home. My name is Ryoshi Uzumaki. I am the Third Uzukage and leader who presided over our home, Uzushiogakure, as it burned. I was unable to defend our lands from Kumo and her allies. With my last act however, I sewed the seeds of our future. In the dying moments of our people and village, I was able to activate an emergency seal that I had created in case of such a situation. This seal teleported large portions of the military district of Uzushio as well as other key structures. This includes our library, school, and archives. Our allies in Leaf were very helpful in the creation of our seal and the base information that I used to create the seal is here as well in the archives. With the materials found here, I can only hope that some day Uzushiogakure can rise again as the great power it once was."

With that, the figure faded from existence and shifted back into the orb of blue light. The orb then flew into the cavern that had opened up, disappearing before light consumed the area.

The trio looked on as the cavern was revealed to be the size of a large ninja village itself. There was an island surrounded by an underground lake. It was massive. The island itself looked about half the size of Wave and was covered in older looking buildings. The lake occupied he rest of the space. There was a bridge that stretched form the island out to where they were standing now.

Takashi's mouth was hanging open slightly, shocked that a place like this could even exist. Hinata was holding Naruto's hand with a very similar look on her face. Naruto himself was surprised, but the first to recover.

"Well….my home is your home too. Looks like we found our base of operations." Naruto said, breaking the spell the others had fallen under. A monster smile forming on his face.

Things were really looking up for Naruto right now.

**There we go! another entry finished. Hope you liked it. As per usual read and review. love hearing from you guys. **


	8. Chapter 8

_**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ANY CHARACTERS THAT MAY POP UP IN THIS UNIVERSE.**_

-Uzushiogakure, Fallen base of operation, one week later-

The past week had been amazing for Naruto and the gang. When they had explored the island remains of Naruto's family home, they had been in awe. There were two full housing complex's capable of housing 150 people each. Each person would have their own room as well, no communal sleeping arrangements. There was a kitchen and dining hall that was completely furnished that could feed anywhere from 300-350 people comfortably at a single time. It had no supplies in it, but that was remedied with a quick trip to Wave by a disguised Takashi. They had explored around more and found what had been marked as a city hall building. Inside was a control room that boasted full control for water, heat, and gas for the entire island. There was an academy as well that housed what looked like a military school on top of the standard looking classrooms. There were also a set of training grounds that sat on the far side of the island and connected to the water of the lake.

All of this was impressive but what really took their breath away was the library and archive. Both were kept in the same building. It was a building the same size as one of the housing structures but full of books. There was content on everything from jutsu to history of different villages. It was the most complete library they had ever seen.

While everything looked amazing, it was all in various stated of disrepair and the trio had decided to dedicate their time to beginning maintenance on their new home in the next few days. Heavy layers of dust would need to be moved and lots of interior work would need to be finished before they could move anyone else into the housing. Things were pilling up, but it didn't deter them at all.

The past few days had been a blast for the trio as they explored the island and the heritage that Naruto's family had left behind.

In the mornings they would all train together and spar. Naruto would wake up very early and work hard on his Shadow Fox style that was coming along very well thanks to Kurama's help. After a lunch together the group would split off from one another and Naruto would bury his head in one of the many books that he had found and read non-stop until dinner time. He had found himself reading through at least one to two books a day. So far he had read history on his family. The fearsome Uzumaki and their sealing arts, feared far and wide. After he read about his family he had decided to find his families seal books and teach himself. He felt he needed to keep their ways alive now that he was one of the few alive. He wanted to honor his family.

Takashi would spend his afternoons, training his eye and chakra reserves. He had taken to experimenting as well with what he could charge with his chakra and how he could use his chakra to manipulate and enhance objects. Hinata's afternoons were spent reading as well. She had picked out a book on water jutsu that she found interesting and had began teaching herself water style techniques to enhance her combat capabilities.

After dinner Naruto would spend time with Hinata. They would read together or walk the island and explore it together. They had learned that inside of the control room was also a complex seal array that looked like a control seal to Naruto. He had researched it a little and knew it controlled other seals and decided to test it out one night. To his and HInata's surprise, the seal controlled the entrance they came through. They could now seal it al will, making the island an even more perfect hidden base. They could also manipulate the light that was given to the chamber that the island was in. Through experimentation, the Naruto had managed to set the lights to mimic the natural light cycle of outdoors.

The two had grown very close in the past week. They would talk for hours on end and learn as much as they could about each other, which only deepened their feelings for one another. The two had also become even closer friends with Takashi. He had finally explained his eye to Naruto and told HInata. The two and accepted it without any problems and now the trio were as close as family.

The three of them had chosen to move into the highest apartments in the housing complex. Hinata and Naruto had not moved in together, still feeling shy and not wanting to rush into anything.

It was very early in the morning a week after their arrival now and Naruto was running through his normal pre-group work training. He had run through his physical training and was now working on his technique. If he learned one thing about his new style, it was that he may not hit a lot, but he could hit like a ten ton rock. The Shadow Fox style focused on high mobility and dodging, something that Naruto had been quick to enhance with his shadow clones. Kurama would watch him run through strike and practice stances and offer feedback and corrections. So far, Naruto was impressed. He only knew four attacks, but they were devastating if they connected.

Naruto continued his practice as he pondered The Forgotten a little, bouncing ideas off of Kurama.

'So, should we have an initiation rite? a uniform? or are we more relaxed than that?' Naruto thought to his companion.

'This group of ours if going to be a mercenary outfit for hire kit, we need to look professional. A uniform would be nice. As for initiation, I'm not sure. It really is up to you.' The giant fox replied.

'Ok then, what kind of uniform should we have?' Naruto thought as he struck a practice dummy so hard it virtually shattered.

'Very good Kit.' The fox praised before continuing. 'A uniform should convey purpose and power. Appearance is just as important a tool to a ninja as skill itself. Morale can be effected by appearance of enemies.' The Kurama finished.

'hmmm…..I have an idea! Naruto shouted in his own mind before realizing that he had been talking longer than he thought as his friends appeared at his training field.

"Hey Naruto" Takashi greeted cheerfully as he started to stretch.

"Hey Takashi" Naruto replied, and turned his attention to his girlfriend. "And hello to you Hime" Naruto greeted her with a small peck on the cheek and a big hug, using his pet name for her.

"Hi Naruto" Hinata smiled and blushed a little. She still could not get used to having his attention all the time.

"Hey before we start out today, I was wondering if we could spend today talking through the final points of The Forgotten and getting things rolling with that?" Naruto asked.

"Sure man, no problem but do you mind if Hinata and I spar a little first? We wanted to test each other's eyes a little." Takashi asked, nodding to Hinata.

"Sure thing! I wanted to look into something anyway. Meet me over at the academy. Classroom 1." Naruto said and waved a goodbye to his companions as he leapt towards his destination.

"Does he ever run out of energy?" Takashi mused out loud as he finished stretching.

"No, but its part of why I love him" Hinata smiled and replied. She had already stretched and was ready to go.

"Ok before we start, can I see your eye?" Hinata asked. "You said it mutated and has different abilities. I want to know if we can still classify it as a Byakugan."

"Well. sure. I haven't actually looked at the thing since I put it in. Never wanted to really." Takashi replied and tapped his eye patch, deactivating both the inhibitor and the adhesive seal.

Catching the eye patch as it fell, Takashi looked at Hinata and she gasped slightly.

"I know, it was a rushed field surgery I did myself. Its a miracle I got the damn thing in. It looks bad right?" Takashi said.

"No. Not that, it…well…..I don't thing you can call it a Byakugan." Hinata replied, transfixed by his eye.

The eye itself was nothing like it should have been. Gone was the pale white color, replaced with a vivid light purple. Instead of having no iris, it contained a darker purple circle within the pale coloring of the eye.

"Huh?" Takashi asked and made his way to the water to see his reflection. "Holy crap! Look at it! What happened!?" Takashi exclaimed as he saw his eye's appearance. He stood and turned back to HInata as she started to talk.

"Well. you said you have a unique chakra. Maybe it forced a mutation so the eye could be more comparable with it?" Hinata asked, trying to get a closer and more detailed look at his eye.

"Maybe…..Anyway, want to try it out against your eyes? I'm curious as to how this'll go" Said Takashi smiling as he remembered the whole point to this.

"Of course. lets see what your eye can do compared to mine." Hinata replied also with a smile on her face. She was curious to see what his eye could do.

Hinata formed a familiar hand sign and he Byakugan came to life. As soon as it did she let her mouth drop open a little.

"How much chakra do you have!?" she asked, flabbergasted by what she saw.

Takashi's eye was draining his chkra at easily ten times the rate at which her eyes drained her.

"Enough for this" Takashi smiled and charged HInata. He wanted to test his eye a little.

Hinata dropped into a Gentle Fist defense and prepared herself. Takashi was no slouch at hand to hand, but much more preferred to fight with his Bo. Which is why it was so easy for HInata to break his charge and turn it around on him. She threw srike after strike, but found nothing connecting.

Takashi was good, but how could he dodge EVERY strike she threw. After about a minute of this, the two separated for a second to catch their breath.

"Weird." Takashi muttered between breaths "Normally, I can see energy transfer and get a projection of possible paths that the target can take. With you its different. I only see what you will do. No options."

"You can read all of my moves?" Hinata asked surprised that Takashi's eyes worked so well.

"Well, only the physical ones." Takashi replied.

"Then how about reading this?" Hinata said as she started running through a set of hand signs very quickly. When she stopped she yelled "Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu" and a massive dragon of water erupted from the lake they were next to, catching Takashi off guard and sweeping him off his feet with a big impact.

As he coughed up water and fumbled to his feet, he fished in his pocket and drew out his eye patch and placed it back over his eye.

"As fun as it may be getting drenched, I think I may be at my limit for now. Great surprise by the way. How long have you been working on that?" Takashi asked making his way to a slightly panting Hinata.

All week, Its really the only thing I mastered. Think Naruto will be impressed?" HInata asked, collecting herself and starting to lead the way to where Naruto said he would meet them.

"Of course he will." Replied Takashi who fell in step beside her. "So what do you think he wanted to check out?" Takashi asked.

"No clue, guess we're about to find out right?" Hinata replied with a smile.

The two fell into a comfortable silence as the neared their destination. When they finally reached the academy and entered the old building, and found classroom 1, Naruto was nowhere to be seen.

"He said classroom 1 right?" Takashi asked HInata as the two scanned the empty room.

before Hinata could reply they heard the pounding of running feet from outside the room. The duo turned in time to see Naruto burst into the room with a goofy grin on his face.

"You're late to your own meeting Naruto." Takashi shot at the blonde.

"I know, I know, I know but you have got to see this! It's super cool and I think we can use it!" Naruto replied holding up a jet black mask. It looked like the kind of mask that hunter-nun would wear.

"Cool, but there's one problem" Takashi said taking the mask from Naruto and inspecting it. "Doesn't look like it's finished. No eye holes. But thats an easy fix. I like it" Takashi finished.

"That's what I thought too, but I was reading these old fuinjutsu scrolls the other day and came across something that might help, put the mask on." Naruto said, beaming.

Takashi looked at his friend like he was crazy, but did as he asked. The mask had a set of straps on the back that would hold it in place on his head. After putting it on, Takashi was greeted by nothing.

"Look, Naruto I don't knw what you're getting at but…." Takashi began.

"Channel a little chakra into it!" Naruto cut Takashi off.

Sighing, Takashi did as his friend asked, and gasped. The darkness faded completely to be replaced by the smiling face of his Naruto and the questioning look of HInata. He could see, like see through the mask!

"Whoa! Naruto, I can see! How did you…" Takashi started but was cut off again by his hyperactive friend.

"Like I said, I came across this seal in an old fuinjutsu training scroll called a transparency seal. It makes the mask transparent to you on the inside! How cool is that!" Naruto was almost bouncing he was so excited. "I worked a while on perfecting the seal and now I think I am good enough at it to do it for a whole bunch of masks!"

"A whole bunch? Are we all going to be getting one?" Hinata asked, still examining the mask Takashi had now taken off and handed to her.

"Ya! I was thinking that it could be the official uniform of The Forgotten. I want each of us to be able to decide what our divisions wear, how they train, what kind of initiation if any you want, but I want us to have one unifying feature. One thing that makes us all Forgotten." Naruto said, looking between his two friends.

"So, we can shape out divisions any way that we want?" Takashi asked, rubbing his chin and thinking.

"Ya. As long as they follow the core rules that we agreed upon and wear a mask during operations, then everything else is decided by their division heads." Naruto replied.

"I like it." Hinata smiled at Naruto and handed the mask to him. "So, whats the plan now Naruto?"

With both of his friends eyes fixed on him, Naruto put his hands behind his head and smiled his foxy grin.

"Simple." Naruto replied. "Recruitment."

-Konoha, Same time-

As the morning wore on a little, Tsunade found herself at her new favorite place to be. She was currently sitting on top of the Fourth's head, just where Naruto would have been found. She had brought with her a small breakfast and was enjoying a little alone time away from her paperwork and troubles. She liked coming here because it made her feel closer to Naruto. She missed Naruto like no one else. She missed her surrogate little brother, all of his antics and the genuine joy and hope he seemed to bring into everyone's lives.

When Kakashi had returned without Hinata, Tsunade had been confused. Until Kakashi delivered his report. She was ecstatic that Naruto was alive and well. He had found a friend and a new dream. That had hurt a little at first, but she couldn't blame him. He had been thrown from a home that he had defended almost to death. She would have moved on as well.

When Kakashi had told Tsunade about Hinata, she was happy. Yes it caused her a monster migraine from the Hyuga clan, but that girl had found happiness. The Hyuga were still trying daily to get a mission together to find the heiress who had 'gotten separated from Kakashi during a routine delivery mission gone very wrong'.

Hinata's true location and true status were only known to Kakashi, Tsunade, and Jiraiya. They had sworn to keep the secret to protect the Hinata and Naruto.

Tsunade's thoughts were disrupted as a familiar presence behind her drew her attention.

"Jiraiya, what do you want?" Tsunade asked, surprised that the Toad Sage was even in the village at all. He was supposed to be out of the village working his spy network.

"Nice to see you too, Hime" Jiraiya replied to the curt greeting as he took a seat next to Tsunade. "I came back because I have something you may want to know."

"Is it about Naruto?" Tsunade asked hopefully.

"No, that boy is impossible to find when he wants to be hidden. This is about Danzo." Jiraiya looked at his former teammate with a worried expression. "He's gathering support, and fast Tsunade. He has all of the civilian council at his side, and a few of the ninja clans as well. My spies caught wind of a root messenger reaching out to Kumo as well. Tsunade, this does not look good."

Tsunade was shocked. She knew that Danzo had village support, but reaching out to a long time rival and enemy of Konoha. That was new.

"What did his messenger want?" Tsunade asked.

"From what I can gather, he wants to form an alliance. He promises them land, military aid, economic aid and….." Jiraiya hesitated.

"And what Jiraiya?" Tsuande asked, almost knowing the answer.

"And the son of the Yellow Flash." Jiraiya finished.

"No….no no no no no. there is no way on earth that Danzo knows where Naruto is hiding! You can't even find him!" Tsunade started to panic slightly.

"Of course he doesn't. I know for a fact he has no clue. But what he did offer was the last known location of Naruto and all the information that we have on him. Danzo wants to server Naruto up to Kumo on a silver platter." Jiraiya said, clearly upset as well.

"….We need to warn him. Somehow…." Tsunade said, standing up.

"How? We can't even find him. How are we supposed to get him a warning? You know that if Danzo finds out about you trying to help Naruto that he'll have the Hokage hat in no time and you'll either be banished too or worse. Hime, we have to think this through." Jiraiya replied, also standing. "What good would we be to Naruto if Danzo won?"

Tsunade sighed in defeat. Jiraiya was right, she just didn't feel like she could do nothing about Naruto's current situation for much longer without going crazy. The two Sannin looked out over Konoha for a minute before the silence was broken by a third person.

"Lady Hokage, I wanted to inform you that Danzo has just called an emergency council meeting." Kakashi said as he materialized behind the two. He was wearing his ANBU uniform, but the two knew him well enough to tell it was him.

"What!? What is that snake up to now?" Tsunade replied as she left, racing towards the council chamber with Jiraiya in tow.

-Konoha, Council Chamber, emergency meeting-

Danzo had done it. He had delivered his final blow. He had never really expected things to go so smoothly, but who was he to complain. All he needed now was….

As if on cue, the doors to the council chamber were thrown open with enough force to remove them from their hinges. Tsunade accompanied by Jiraiya and Kakashi entered the room.

"Ah, why thank you Kakashi for collecting Tsunade for us. You are dismissed." Danzo said dismissively as all eyes in the room became trained on the trio.

"You're not the one who orders MY ninja around Danzo" Tsunade spat back venomously as she placed a hand on Kakashi's shoulder to keep him where he was. "He stays."

"Oh Lady Tsunade, I believe you are mistaken. I do order the ninja of this village around now." Danzo replied smugly as a smile plastered itself across his features.

"What do you mean?" Tsunade shot back, a bad feeling forming in the pit of her stomach.

"Simple Tsunade, I called a special council meeting to discuss your competence as Hokage. We all agree as well that your attachment to the demon that we banished has clouded your judgment and made you an until leader. As of five minutes ago, you are no longer Hokage." Danzo stood as he finished with his smile fading into his usual passive face. "I have been elected your replacement."

"THIS IS BULLSHT!" Tsunade screamed, letting the rage and killer intent flow from her freely. No one in the room except for the elders and Danzo could dare to look at her. "HOW DARE YOU!"

"How dare I what? I simply took action that would ensure the best future for the Leaf. You were a soft leader unable to do what had to be done. I will not make the same mistakes." Danzo replied calmly. "Tsunade Senju and Jiraiya the Gallant, the two of you are hereby restricted to village duty. You are to not leave the gates of Konoha. To do so will be considered treason and you will be labeled as missing-nin. Do I make myself clear?"

Tsunade felt her world shatter around her. She couldn't even run away from this. No, she was gone. That was a matter of fact. Tsunade would not stay in the shell of the village her family had founded. She was now certain of her actions.

"Hai" She replied angrily to Danzo and stormed out.

Jiraiya had been too dumbstruck to speak. Instead opting to follow Tsunade from the room.

"Hime, are we really going to roll over like…" Jiraiya began but was instantly cut off by the angry slug princess.

"Hell no we aren't done. Since we can't leave we have to take our time and gather supplies so that we can leave. I'm done here, i'm don't with this hell hole of a village. Do what you can to gather info on where we could hide once we are ready to leave. It'll take time, but we are gone. Nothing is keeping me here anymore. I do not fear Danzo or his orders." Tsunade finished as she stomped off towards her favorite bar.

Jiraiya was about to follow but decided against it. She had told him to start looking for their next course of action, and he wasn't about to say no to her. He would check on her periodically and make sure that she didn't do anything too stupid.

How had things taken such a bad turn so quickly. The toad sage let out a sight and disappeared as he went to get in touch with his spy network connections in Konoha. Running and using his network was going to be a headache now that he was restricted to Konoha…

**There we go. Sorry about the delay on this one, things have been a bit crazy though. Hope you guys liked this one. Next one is going to be good. I dot ideas all cooked up and ready to go. As per usual read and review and maybe share the story if you like it. Until next time.**


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